A Few Words from your commissioner...
As of late, I noticed a little buzz on my questioning of the bidding process for minor and major construction projects in the city. It's very simple everyone, the City of Edinburg is paying some extremely high prices, prices well above the industry and even other local municipalities. Sometimes 3 and 4 times the going rate. Now some might say that "That's just the way it is". I strongly disagree, the cost of bonding (which I researched thoroughly) does not justify what we have been paying. I implore you to do your own research, look into the matter. At the last council meeting I questioned prices on "how much we paid for a 8" SDR 26 PVC sewer line put in at Lift station 17. The city paid $75 dollars a linear foot (installed) at an 8' to 10' foot depth for 770 linear feet, and $99 dollars a linear foot (installed) at same depth for a 18" SDR 26 PVC sewer line but this one was for 2600 linear feet. My price as a private developer is respectively somewhere between 13 and 35 ($13 a foot for the 8" and $35 for the 18") That equates on those two line items alone to $214,140.00 dollars more than what a private developer pays. Why the marked difference, well if you notice on the council meetings, the issue of bonding continually comes into question. On average, a contractor pays 5% of the project cost to bond. That would mean that a $443K project, would bond out at about 22K. (443K being what the engineer originally estimated the project to cost).
As of late, I noticed a little buzz on my questioning of the bidding process for minor and major construction projects in the city. It's very simple everyone, the City of Edinburg is paying some extremely high prices, prices well above the industry and even other local municipalities. Sometimes 3 and 4 times the going rate. Now some might say that "That's just the way it is". I strongly disagree, the cost of bonding (which I researched thoroughly) does not justify what we have been paying. I implore you to do your own research, look into the matter. At the last council meeting I questioned prices on "how much we paid for a 8" SDR 26 PVC sewer line put in at Lift station 17. The city paid $75 dollars a linear foot (installed) at an 8' to 10' foot depth for 770 linear feet, and $99 dollars a linear foot (installed) at same depth for a 18" SDR 26 PVC sewer line but this one was for 2600 linear feet. My price as a private developer is respectively somewhere between 13 and 35 ($13 a foot for the 8" and $35 for the 18") That equates on those two line items alone to $214,140.00 dollars more than what a private developer pays. Why the marked difference, well if you notice on the council meetings, the issue of bonding continually comes into question. On average, a contractor pays 5% of the project cost to bond. That would mean that a $443K project, would bond out at about 22K. (443K being what the engineer originally estimated the project to cost).
8" SDR PVC $13.00 LF $75.00 LF 770 LF
18" SDR PVC $35.00 LF $99.00 LF 2600 LF
What does this mean, it means that the project should have come in somewhere in the neighborhood of about 465K. Well, the winning bid was 777K, 312K more than what the engineer budgeted (bond included). We obviously have a problem. Don't take my word for it, all you have to do is call a contractor or an engineer, any engineer (except those that have won bids at our city (conflict of interest)) and ask how much the two line items I specified would run. Keep in mind that the contractor would have to pay an additional 5% percent to bond the project.
I think you will be amazed at what you find. After you get the results call the councilmen who voted in favor of the price and let them know what you think.
Good luck all. I am looking forward to the responses.
