During their final meeting of 2021 in December council members approved $250,000 for the paving contract in the 2022 public works budget. The amount was based on costs for paving work in 2021.
Hawkesbury partners with the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) on doing tender calls for paving work as part each others public works budget plans. Other municipalities in Prescott-Russell also are members of the regional consortium because the larger combined tender call can result in more competitive bids from paving companies for the contract.
Cornwall Gravel won the paving contract for 2022 but inflation has resulted in higher gasoline prices and that affects both the cost of delivering the asphalt and also running the paving equipment. Cornwall Gravel presented the most competitive bid but it was still 35 per cent higher than paving contract bids received during 2021.
Hawkesbury’s public works budget just has Steven Street scheduled for paving. The original $250,000 budget allocation for the work was based on last year’s paving supply cost of $85 per ton. This year the paving supply cost is $135 per ton.
During its April 11 session council approved a recommendation for a revised paving budget allocation of $310,000. The extra money will come from the municipality’s $595,000 federal gas tax grant.
