The Carroll City Council again failed to reach a consensus at last night’s (Monday) meeting on proposed renovations and expansion at the Carroll Recreation Center, leaving the future of the project still uncertain. Bids came in $1.2 million over the originally estimated $6.72 million construction cost. The base bid of $7.69 million includes improvements to the HVAC systems and locker rooms and the addition of a third gymnasium with an elevated walking track. An alternate bid for an additional $245,000 adds work in the facility’s west fitness room. Following nearly three hours of discussion on the topic, the council remains split with the three newest council members, Tom Bordenaro, Kyle Bauer and JJ Schrek, opposed to the full project and Misty Boes, Carolyn Siemann and Lavern Dirkx in favor of moving forward. The council was presented three options: proceed with the base bid only (Option A); base bid and alternate with value engineering (Option B); or reject all bids and rebid the project after scaling back (Option C). The disagreement stems from a September 2020 referendum when voters approved the elimination of a sunset for Local Option Sales Tax (L.O.S.T.), but a proposed General Obligation (GO) bond for an additional $5.9 million for the Rec Center project failed. The council members who oppose the project cite the higher-than-expected cost, and Schreck and Mayor, Mark Beardmore, say there are still many voters who feel the referendum’s language was too ambiguous.
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Dirkx previously proposed pulling nearly a million in L.O.S.T. funding from future projects and reallocating them towards the Rec Center with the shortfall coming from federal stimulus money and hotel/motel tax to avoid affecting property tax rates. The council heard from a dozen residents, and their comments were also split nearly evenly for or against the project. Beardmore has been clear that his priority is to lower the city’s total tax levy, and Boes says the council members in favor of the project have made concessions elsewhere in the budget to avoid tax increases so the project can move forward.
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Separate motions to approve the base bid and alternate, base bid and alternate with value engineering and to reject the bids and rebid all failed on a split vote at various points during the meeting. Bordenaro questioned why the project was only bid with only one alternate. According to City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, this is a result of how each segment interacts with the others.
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With the council deadlocked at 3-3, budget deadlines from the state require them to move forward with setting a public hearing for the property tax levy. This hearing sets the highest levy the city can put forth, excluding the debt service levy, and can be lowered later. In order to meet the state’s deadlines, the council voted unanimously to move forward with setting a public hearing for their Feb. 28 meeting on a $10.74225 levy, which equals $12.14382 per $1,000 of taxable evaluation when debt service is included. This is the figure city staff calculated with the Rec Center included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget. In order to approve a FY23 budget, the council will need to make a decision at that meeting or face potential penalties against the city. Full audio and video from Monday’s Carroll City Council meeting can be found included below.
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