New city hall project still on pace for $43.6 million

Windsor's new city hall project is on schedule and should not exceedthe projected $43.6-million budget, according to the man overseeing design and construction.

Recognizing the political pressure to pinch pennies,project administratorWadahAl-Yassiriinsists his teamgoes to great lengthsto ensure every taxpayer dollar is well spent.

"We are all doing our due diligence to make sure that we, not only come within budget, but also...below budget," he said during a meeting ofthe new city hallsteering committee on Friday afternoon.

Councillor Hilary Payne asked severalquestions related to making sure the project stays on budget and gets done on time.

City treasurer Onorio Colucci isconfident the project team has built in enough oversight to keep costs down.

"Until you have the actual tender results, the budgets are estimates and [they] can change, but we feel pretty comfortable that we've been conservative in our estimates," he told CBC News.

The city expects to put the project out to tender as early as May now that detail design work is 95 per cent complete.