Megan Brockett

mbrockett@pressconnects.com | @PSBMegan

A lower-than-anticipated bid for demolition of the Collier Street parking ramp could result in the ramp being torn down sooner, Binghamton Mayor Richard David said last week.

Binghamton-based Gorick Construction said it could do the job for $484,000 — about half what the city had expected the demolition to cost, David said.

As a result, the mayor's office is proposing to use the city's fund balance to pay for most of the work, which could now start in June.

Had the lowest bid been higher, David said his office likely would have pursued another funding option: grant money from the state.

But the grant process could have added four to six months to the timeline of the project, with no guarantee the state would have awarded the city the funds, David said.

"Frankly, I feel it would it be a detriment to the city to continue to wait on this, because this parking issue is so significant in downtown," David said. "So, I'm ... using a portion of the fund balance because, frankly, that's what the fund balance is for."

He said the city's fund balance has grown to about $16 million since he took office.

City Council will have to approve an amendment to the 2016 budget that includes appropriating $475,000 of the fund balance and about $61,000 of unanticipated revenue from public works to complete the demolition.

The extra approximately $52,000 beyond the bid total will be used to cover the remainder of the projected costs, including asbestos abatement and air monitoring, David said.

If approved, David said he expects demolition to begin in June.

The Collier Street parking ramp has been closed and slated to be torn down since November, ridding downtown Binghamton of about 535 parking spaces.

The decision to shut down the city-owned garage came after months of growing concerns over its structural condition. The city had already blocked off the ramp's top two floors months earlier after crews found complex and costly issues during restoration work, David's office said.

Once the ramp is demolished, the city plans to put a surface parking lot with about 70 spaces in its place temporarily to assuage frustrations over insufficient parking downtown. Funding for that project will be separate.

A separate $20 million mixed-use development with about 350 parking spots is also planned for 7 Hawley St. to address parking concerns.

The city received five bids for demolition of the Collier Street ramp, ranging from Gorick Construction's low bid of $484,000 to a high bid of nearly $1.3 million from Total Wrecking and Environmental LLC, of Buffalo.

The second lowest bid was $821,672, submitted by Regional Environmental Demolition, of Niagara Falls.

Another funding option the mayor's office considered was bonding, but it rejected that path because the money would have to have been paid back with interest, David said.

City Comptroller Chuck Shager and Deputy Mayor Jared Kraham outlined the funding proposal before City Council at Monday's work session.

Council members responded with praise for the low bid price and for the demolition project moving forward.

No one spoke in opposition to the project or the proposal to pay for it with money from the city's fund balance.

City Councilman Giovanni Scaringi, R-1st District, lauded the choice to use the fund balance rather than bonding to avoid paying interest.

David, in an interview last week, said moving to tear down the ramp quickly will not only help with the city's parking problems, but will also address blight.

"I think that parking ramp right now is kind of a symbol of dysfunction, in the sense that it's a symbol of what happens when a city neglects its parking infrastructure," David said. "It's unsightly, and it's ... a barrier to future development downtown."

City Council is expected to vote on the funding proposal at its business meeting Wednesday.

Follow Megan Brockett on Twitter @PSBMegan.

Megan Brockett

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