After long delays and proposed cuts, Prince William County is poised to sign a construction contract for a new animal shelter that restores many of the items eliminated from the original project during the design process to keep the project under budget.
If all goes according to plan, the new shelter will be in service by fall of 2021.
Supervisor Victor Angry, D-Neabsco, issued a directive to county staff Tuesday to increase the budget for the new shelter by $1.6 million to restore items that county staff proposed cutting from the original plan. No other supervisors objected to the motion. As a result, the the amended project budget now totals $16.7 million up from the initial $15.1 million.
The items restored by the budget boost include site paving, the demolition of the existing animal shelter, the construction of a barn for surrendered farm animals and additional furniture, fixtures and equipment.
The increased budget also funds a 2,300-square-foot expansion for additional offices, kennels and storage.
County staff said a proposed fitness room in the facility will be repurposed to include multiple small animal rooms and additional office space that were cut from the design.
To pay for the increase in the project budget, County Executive Chris Martino said the county was able to transfer some of the operating and maintenance costs anticipated for the shelter to the project’s debt service.
“Our original estimate of operating and maintenance costs, before we knew the exact design of the building, was high enough to absorb that additional debt service cost,” Martino said. “We could carry the additional debt service on the total project.”
Martino said it would translate to roughly $75,000 a year in additional debt service.
Deputy County Executive Rebecca Horner said the county plans to finalize and execute a construction contract with Taft construction company in the coming weeks to have the animal shelter in service by the fall of 2021.
“We expect to issue the contract within in the next few days, by Friday,” Horner said. “By March 18, the county will have a notice to proceed so that we can achieve the goal of occupancy in fall of 2021.”
Reach Daniel Berti at dberti@fauquier.com
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