Council weighs paying $97,992 now to combine parking‑lot work with taxiway rehab

County staff presented the council with two options for the airport’s taxiway and parking lot work: proceed this fiscal year and increase the county’s allocation by roughly $97,992, or keep the existing schedule and do the parking lot next year.

Luckettone said the county’s current contribution for the taxiway A rehabilitation is budgeted at $57,529 toward a $2,301,000 project. He said consultants proposed that combining the parking‑lot construction with the current taxiway contractor’s mobilization could reduce total costs. “If we were to do it this year, they project the cost to be 385,000,” Luckettone said. “If we were to do it next year, they project the cost of 430,000.” He added that while those figures are estimates, doing both projects together could avoid a second mobilization and reduce the county’s eventual outlay.

Council members asked how the savings would be realized and whether the reduction would overly deplete contingency. One member said cutting contingency by about $97,992 would leave roughly $150,000 and warned it could be eaten up quickly; another suggested submitting alternate bids so the county can evaluate actual bid prices before committing. Staff recommended proceeding with engineering and design and including the parking lot as an alternate bid to preserve flexibility while allowing staff to inform consultants by the following day.

No formal budget amendment was adopted during the work session; staff asked the council for direction and said they would return with bid information and, if needed, a budget amendment at a regular meeting.