Posted in Escambia County

Buzz:Does ECUA need money from the City?

   April 2, 2009

The recession has caused bids for many projects to come in much lower than expected. The New York Times (Companies Pretty Up Prices to Win Stimulus Projects) reports construction companies, hungry for work in the dismal economy, have slashed their prices. Bids are coming in 15 to 25 percent lower than expected.

The relocation of the Main Street Sewage Treatment Plant and the construction of the new plant in Cantonment was estimated to cost $303 million. If the bids are just 10 percent lower than expected, that’s a $30 million savings.

We have heard that the bids have in fact been much lower than estimated. If so, should the City of Pensacola still pay ECUA $19.5 million to help with the project? Why should City utility customers pay twice – as ratepayers and taxpayers?

The City funds are to come from the CRA. If ECUA releases the City from the obligation since it doesn’t really need the funds, then CRA is in much better shape to handle CMP bonds and will have money for CRA operations.

Share:

Rules for Comments

Your comments are welcomed, but there are some rules to follow:

(1) Be Nice. No comments that slander another, no racism, no sexism, no personal attacks.

(2) No Harrassing Comments.

(3) No Libel. That’s saying something is not true about someone. Don’t do it.

(4) Keep it clean. Nothing vulgar, obscene, or sexually related. No profanity or obvious substitutions.

(5) I reserve the right to remove any comments that violate our rules or are inappropriate. I am not responsible for what is posted. Comments may not appear right away until they are approved by a moderator.

(6) Limit your comments to the subject in this story only, and limit comments to 1,500 characters or less. Do not post copyrighted material. Comments will not be added to stories that are over five days old.

(7) No posts may advertise a commercial business, political candidate, or political group. Links in a comment aren’t allowed.

8) Commenting too many times may result in your comments not being allowed. Readers will begin to ignore your views.

9) Email me if you believe a comment violates any of these rules, and it will be deleted.