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Wheaton Park band shell bids come in double city funding; staff recommends $100,000 CDBG reallocation
Summary
City staff told the council the low construction bid for a planned Wheaton Park stage was about $196,000 — roughly $100,000 more than available funds — and proposed reallocating $100,000 in CDBG from an alley CIP and backfilling highway user revenue for the alley work, pending HUD approvals and a 30-day public comment period.
City project manager Jim Bender told the Hagerstown City Council that bids for a planned new stage or bandshell at Wheaton Park came in far higher than staff estimates and that the lowest bid exceeded available funding by roughly $100,000.
"We had between carryover funding from FY25 and what was allocated in the FY26 budget, we had about a $100,000 to do this project. The low bid was a 196,000, so we're just about a $100,000 short," Bender said. He told the council that the initial round of bidding produced only one bid several months earlier; a revised solicitation yielded more bidders but still produced a low bid above budget.
Staff recommended covering the shortfall by reallocating $100,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from an FY26 alley reconstruction capital project into the Wheaton Park stage budget, and then using highway user revenue to backfill the alley allocation. Bender and staff said the approach would preserve the stage work while allowing alley work to proceed using transportation funds that are eligible for that purpose.
Bender said the proposed change would be a "substantial amendment" to the city's annual action plan submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He said the city filed its FY26 action plan on Aug. 14 and HUD has up to 45 days to respond; if the council approves the reallocation staff would publish the amendment and the plan would require a 30‑day public comment period before submission to HUD.
Council members asked about the engineer cost estimate, whether the low bidder's price was final and how a reallocation would affect pavement preservation and other highway user revenue projects. Bender said the city had not executed a contract yet and could not sign until HUD approved any amendment because the CDBG funding is allocated in the action plan.
Why it matters: The stage is a visible part of a Wheaton Park master plan; the funding gap and HUD procedures mean the project schedule and cost could shift. The council must weigh whether to accept the higher construction cost and proceed using CDBG reallocation and highway user revenue or to revise the project design or timing.
Ending: Staff said it would publish the required CDBG amendment for public comment if the council directs the change and would forward the amendment to HUD after the 30‑day comment period.
