Our View:Government projects seem to build in huge ‘fudge
factors’ that cost the taxpayers money and contribute to public
apathy
It’s a sad commentary on the nature of public projects that no one is surprised that the downtown streetscape project price tag has jumped by a startling $1.13 million.
We can’t lay all the blame on the increase on the city: The low bidder was rejected because the company didn’t meet federal requirements for using enough “disadvantaged businesses” as subcontractors.
Those federal requirements come into play with this project because a significant amount of funding for it comes from federal grants. The lowest bid was for $3.7 million, but because city officials couldn’t accept it, they will have to start with the next-lowest bid, which is roughly $400,000 higher.
While encouraging disadvantaged businesses is a laudable goal, it seems unfair that Gilroy taxpayers are shouldering a $400,000 burden to achieve it.
But that $400,000 bid difference doesn’t account for the total price increase, and the city does need to shoulder the burden for the other $713,000. The other factors contributing to the increased project price, city officials say, are spiraling material costs and a rush to complete the project by year’s end.
Why is it that seemingly every public project is “surprised” by increasing material costs or bad weather delays? This happened with the police station, it happened with the county court house being built in Morgan Hill and it’s happening here.
Estimating construction-project costs is not rocket science. Why can’t government learn to anticipate and estimate with the same accuracy as the private sector?
It’s no wonder we don’t trust construction estimates on mammoth projects like the BART-to-San Jose extension.
While we understand and sympathize with downtown business owners who want the project done yesterday, it’s the City Council’s job to balance that need with the cost that the entire community must pay.
But the most disturbing thing of all is public apathy. We expect cost overruns. We’re not surprised when they happen. Instead, we’re surprised when government projects are delivered on time and under budget. That apathy is what backers of public projects are banking on. It allows them to sell the public on projects with rosy and unrealistic estimates and bank on no outrage when costs for those projects, to no one’s surprise, spiral ever upward.
And that’s a sad state of affairs, indeed.
It all comes down to accountability. Until and unless voters hold public officials accountable to live within their means, to stick to capital and operating budgets, to negotiate fiercely with public employee unions, we can expect more of the same.
