The price tag for the new Hermiston City Hall got 7 percent bigger after the Hermiston City Council authorized the issuance of bonds Monday night to pay for the facility.
City Manager Byron Smith told the council that with necessary design changes to the library basement renovation, the current estimate for the overall project has gone from $9 million to $9.6 million.
Smith said the design of the library basement remodel was originally $700,000. Since then, however, design changes have increased the estimate to between $900,000 and $1 million. Smith said a final detailed design and estimate won’t be available until mid-October. He requested the extra funding as a safety net in case additional cost increases in the design are identified. He said construction could begin in mid-November.
Parts of the library are currently being used by city staff until the new city hall can be finished sometime next year. The renovation will give the library needed additional space for its growing number of programs and materials.
The new 22,000-square-foot city hall will be constructed at the current location. That building was heavily damaged by smoke in a fire that broke out back in December.
