Harrison road work costs exceed budget

Harrison awarded two contracts for road work this year, but may not be able to afford to do all of the work.

The two contracts total $481,500, which is nearly $80,000 more than the township wanted to spend, according to township Engineer Raymond Antonelli Jr., vice president of NIRA Consulting Engineers.

A nearly $409,000 contract to resurface 18 roads was awarded to A. Liberoni of Plum. Another contract, for $72,500, was awarded to Russell Standard of O’Hara to seal coat, or “tar-and-chip,” nine alleys and lanes.

A. Liberoni’s bid is about 17 percent more than the $350,000 the township expected the road paving work to cost. Russell Standard’s bid is about 34 percent more than the $54,000 expected cost for the alley and lane work.

The contracts allow the township to add or delete work, Antonelli said.

Commissioners will have to decide if they will remove any roads from either contract, he said.

“It was clear that the board wanted to keep within the budget, but I told them they need not decide what work might be eliminated at this time,” Antonelli said.

“Between now and the time that the contracts are executed, which usually takes a few weeks for the contractor to get their bonds and other paperwork pulled together, they can make their decisions and change orders can be issued,” he said.