Derby City Treasurer Keith McLiverty urged the city’s Parking Authority to get a better cost analysis before asking residents to borrow millions of dollars to repair the Thompson Place parking garage.
The authority met Wednesday (March 20) and received a preliminary estimate of $5.25 million for repairs, but that estimate was extrapolated from a repair job on a smaller parking garage in Waterbury.
McLiverty suggested the authority spend money to get a more detailed and more accurate engineering report explaining just how much money is needed for repairs at the aging structure.
The authority then voted to get a more concrete estimate.
The parking garage repair bill could be one of several items city government may bring to voters for approval in May. What effect the parking authority’s move will have on the timing of the referendum remains to be seen, as the city hasn’t officially decided there will be a referendum.
The ultimate decision of what questions to bring to the public is up to the Derby Board of Aldermen and the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation (tax board).
In addition to the parking garage repairs, voters could also be asked to approve between $20 million and $35 million in borrowing to repair and upgrade Derby’s sewer infrastructure. The public could also be asked to approve $4 million to replace the roofs on three of the four school buildings.
And, at a recent tax board meeting, elected officials discussed whether repairs to Derby’s athletic fields should be added to the referendum.
Voters have yet to receive information as to what this referendum will do to their wallets.
Parking Garage Update
The Derby Parking Garage has received an array of cost estimates connected to replacing or repairing the garage.
On Wednesday, structural engineer Richard J. Marnicki and electrical engineer James D’Amico met with the Authority’s board to discuss their $5.25 million repair estimate.
They also discussed a roughly $6 million estimate to tear the garage down and build a new one.
Marnicki and D’Amico recently completed a repair project for a smaller, although otherwise similar parking garage in Waterbury. They calculated the cost estimate for Derby’s parking garage by multiplying the Waterbury costs based on the Derby facility’s larger size.
With 340 parking spaces, the municipal garage in Derby is almost twice the size of the garage in Waterbury, they said.
But that rough estimate should be better fleshed out before a question is put to Derby voters, McLiverty suggested.
He recommended that the Parking Authority hire consultants to provide a more definite cost analysis.
McLiverty said most Derby residents don’t use the parking garage, so the authority has to convince them it is needed to get their support for the repairs.
He also said the authority would only get one chance to sell the repair project to the voters. Once the amount is set for a bond authorization referendum, the authority would not be able to increase it if the actual cost turned out to be substantially higher.
“What I’m saying is, be comfortable with what you come to the voters with, because you’re only going to get one shot,” McLiverty said.
Earlier cost projections for the project ranged from about $9.3 million for repairs to $16.4 million for tearing down the old parking garage and building a new one.
Mayor Anthony Staffieri said earlier this month he doubted that Derby voters would approve a bond sale authorization for replacing the garage, based on earlier cost estimates.
Derby’s garage was built in 1975, and even though it is almost 40 years old, the engineers said it is still structurally sound. But it is worn out and needs major repairs, especially the replacement of concrete deck slabs that vehicles ride up and down on year after year.
