New Windsor City Hall to cost additional $4.4M

The cost of a new city hall rose an additional $4.4 million Monday night.

City council voted 6-5 to spend the extra money, bringing the new estimated cost to $44.3 million.

The city's CAO, Helga Reidel, said the current plans for the city hall don't allow enough room to accommodate future growth in staff.

Some on council have suggested it needs space for an economic development corporation, for example.

So the extra $4.4 million will give the city an additional 12,000 square feet or room for 60 additional staff.

Coun. Bill Marra voted in favour of the expansion because he didn't want to see a repeat of the mistake made with the 400 Building, where council balked at spending an additional $3.4 million and, consequently, the building is now deemed small.

The mayor agreed and broke the tie.

"This city council has been very proactive working towards a 20-year strategic plan so it would be somewhat disingenuous, I would suggest, to have our first project out of the gate that only contemplates today's needs and doesn't even look two years, three years, five years, ten years much less 20 years down the road," Dilkens said.

Coun. Fred Francis says council should have stuck to the original budget.

"When you look at it, setting a budget at city hall should be the same as setting your budget at your kitchen counter ... you don't spend more than you have and you live within your means," Francis said.

Back in 2014, council originally heard the cost of renovating the current city hall would be somewhere between $24 million and $32 million.

Instead, council decided to move ahead with a new city hall.

Preliminary drawings for Windsor's new city hall were revealed in March.

The city hopes to break ground later this fall, though the building won't be ready for move-in until April 2018.