The gasps from City Council members were audible last week as City Manager Monte Falls delivered the jaw-dropping news that the estimated cost to rebuild the storm-damaged Humiston Beach boardwalk had nearly doubled – to more than $4 million.
“Late last month, we received the new cost estimate, which took the boardwalk project up to $3.99 million,” Falls told the City Council at last week’s meeting. “Add on the engineering design and permitting, it’s $4.6 million.”
That’s a dramatic increase from the city’s original $2 million estimate, as well as the later updated $2.5 million projection that took into account the engineering, design and permitting costs…