A roof replacement project at St. Michael School has been delayed for another year because of rising costs.
Prince Albert Catholic School Division Chief Financial Officer Greg McEwen updated trustees on the deferral during Monday’s regular meeting.
The roof replacement was part of the Preventative Maintenance and Renewal (PMR) projects and was initially slated for completion during the 2021-2022 school year.
The school division originally budgeted $162,000 for the project. However, it soon became apparent the cost would be much higher after they approached potential engineering firms for project management.
McEwen reported more than 20 competing roofing projects in the marketplace at the time, with cost estimates for the St. Michael’s roof repair jumping to roughly $217,000. That’s around $55,000 higher than the budget set by the division.
“With the price of roof repair in the current state that we are in this province … we know that the price will be higher than we want or anticipated,” education director Lorel Trumier said. “It was a preventative maintenance process, so it is not that the roof has been breached in any way.”
One potential firm recommended a deferral as the current price, timing and availability of materials may not be favourable to the division.
“We brought that to the board and indicated that we will push that one down the line a little bit and use our dollars more cost effectively to do projects that are equally as important,” Trumier said. “We always know the roofs take priority because of course it really protects the infrastructure that we have.”
The report stated that the St. Michael roof will not have performance issues with a deferral.
The board agreed with the recommendation to defer the project to 2023. Administration will now budget the projected cost increase into the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget as part of the PMR funding.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
