It’s not every day that taxpayers hear of public works projects that come in under budget, but the final numbers for the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District’s new Clubhouse building show a saving of approximately $111,000.
Executive Director Debbie Kopas told board members at an April 5 Committee of the Whole meeting that the district still has a few outstanding bills totaling $18,600 for Clubhouse items. Once those are paid, the project will have cost $2.738 million. Kopas said that is roughly $111,000 less than the $2.85 million the district borrowed for construction.
It is a bit of good news after the board struggled to complete the project at the corner of 183rd Street and Governors Highway.
The board was awarded a $400,000 Open Lands grant from the State of Illinois only to be told in March 2015 that Gov. Bruce Rauner ordered a stop to grant payouts.
The park district had already torn down the original building that had been a meeting area on the top floor and a bathhouse for Dolphin Lake pool on the lower floor. Construction on the Clubhouse was underway when the state notified the park district it wasn’t getting its funding.
Making no immediate changes to the parking lot would have saved $500,000 but the board agreed that the pitched lot needed to be re-graded to eliminate a severe slope.
Board members modified a number of items in the Clubhouse, and went through the overall district budget to find other projects that could be put on hold.
Counting the $400,000 in state monies that were to be included in the cost, the Clubhouse is $511,000 under the original cost estimate, Kopas added.