Gritters Library rebuild cost balloons to $10.5 million
Sep. 26—MARIETTA — The renovation of northeast Cobb's Gritters Library, originally budgeted as a $2.9 million project, could soon cost $10.5 million after Tuesday's Board of Commissioners meeting.
The ballooning budget is a result not only of rising construction costs, but of a project that's now envisioned as a full rebuild of the aging library.
The board was expected to vote Tuesday on approving a $2.5 million transfer to fill out the budget, though support for the move appeared to waver at a Monday morning work session.
Tucked into the woods alongside Shaw Park off of Canton Road, Gritters, according to Library Director Helen Poyer, "sits in a swampland" and is "an old cedar building that's in very poor condition."
Major features of the rebuild will include building out reading and study rooms, expanding an existing multipurpose room, creating an outdoor programming space, and consolidating services into a one-stop service desk.
Poyer added that in 2014, when the library system lobbied for the building to be put on the 2016 SPLOST list, she already knew a complete rebuild would be required and probably cost about $8.6 million.
Instead, the library got just $2.9 million from the SPLOST. Commissioners supplemented that with a $2 million allocation from revenue above projections — extra cash generated by the sales tax. And to top it off, the county received $1.9 million in funding from Georgia's Board of Regents last year. That brought the budget up to $6.8 million.
The county's also elected to fold in $1.2 million set aside for the Shaw Park community center, consolidating the space into the library itself and bringing the budget to $8 million.
The final $2.5 million, if approved, would come from county reserve funds. But Commissioner Keli Gambrill took issue with using general budget dollars to pay for a SPLOST project.
"How many other 2016 SPLOST projects that are not completed are going to be in the same position?" she asked. "... If we we knew (the project cost) going into this, and now we're using general funds — I mean, when's it going to end?"
Sharon Stanley, who heads up the county's support services agency, said the previous budgets were believed to be sufficient to cover the costs in full. But rising construction prices had brought the price tag north of the $10 million mark, with contractor Batson-Cook offering the current price tag as a guaranteed ceiling.
The county saw similar cost overruns with a new police precinct it's building in northeast Cobb, which required a roughly 10% increase in its budget earlier this year.
"If we don't get funded, or this is not approved, then we'll be back out on the market again," said Property Management Director Travis Stalcup. "And then ... we'll just face what we've been facing the whole time: escalating material prices, labor shortages."
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area, said she would meet with her colleagues Monday to gauge support for moving forward.
"If we don't (have support), I'm pulling it," she said.
The board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 100 Cherokee Street in Marietta.
