Tower Painting Bid Exceeds Budget

OCEAN CITY – Continuing a recent trend, resort officials this week approved the low bid to repaint and repair the water tower at 41st Street which came in at over $150,000 more than was budgeted for the project.

Last week, the Mayor and Council opened bids for the contract to repaint and repair the town’s water tower at 41st Street adjacent to the convention center. In an ongoing cycle, the town repaints and repairs the iconic blue water towers up and down the resort and the tower at 41st Street is the latest.

Just two bids were submitted for the painting and repair of the 41st Street water tower when they were opened last week. The project was budgeted for $700,000, but each of the bids came in significantly higher than that figure. One bid from K&K Painting came in at over $900,000, while the second bid from D&M Painting came in at over $852,000, including a base bid of $788,000 and an additional $63,000 for the accessory details of the project.

Par for the course, the bids last week were remanded to the staff for review and a recommendation. As part of the consent agenda on Monday, the staff recommended accepting the low bid from D&M Painting at $852,000, which is considerably higher than the $700,000 budget estimate for the project.

The council voted unanimously to accept the bid despite the budget overrun. Supplemental funding to cover the overage will be addressed by using money from the current water fund balance, an enterprise fund that is self-supporting through user fees.

While not a major expense, the 41st Street water tower painting project overage continues a recent trend of resort projects coming in well over budget. With inflation, the cost of materials and supply chain issues, practically every significant project tackled by the resort in recent months has far exceeded budget estimates.

For example, the first phase of the redevelopment of the downtown recreation complex between 3rd and 4th streets was budgeted at $2.2 million, but the bids for that project came in at around $3.8 million. Just last month, the Mayor and Council accepted a low bid for a new pumping station at Montego Bay at $3.4 million for a project that was budgeted at $2.6 million.

The list goes on an on for the town facing the grim reality of the current economy. Perhaps the best example is the redevelopment of the Baltimore Avenue corridor from North Division Street to 15th Street. That project, which will include undergrounding utilities, widening sidewalks and streetscaping, was initially budgeted at around $20 million, which the town planned to bond. But the most recent estimate came at nearly twice that, at around $40 million.

About The Author: Shawn Soper

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Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.