Anderson County Commissioners have placed a plan on hold which would have constructed a new rural fire station on Westgate Road, after bids were way over an engineer’s estimate for the project’s costs.
Anderson County Fire Chief, Mick Brinkmeyer, submitted two bids to commissioners last month for the project, which was initially estimated at $1.4 million; but, yielded construction company quotes from Bucyrus and Coffeyville of $2.7 million and $2.1 million, respectively.
Commissioners discussed options for lowering cost by reducing some design and outfitting aspects of the proposed structure. They opted instead to table the project with a possible rebid sometime this winter, pending the outcome of the Chief Engineer’s conversations with the bidders regarding some of the costs.
Construction industry analysts note that labor costs have increased, saying wages can account for half of construction project costs.
