At the most recent Perry City Council meeting they discussed bids for the wastewater treatment facility improvements, which bids came in higher than expected.

Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson says their estimated cost was $18-$20 million and he says the bids came in ranging from $27 million to $30 million but he isn’t surprised by the increased costs.

“Definitely taking a close look at those to see if that’s something that we should move forward with or reject both of those bids and rebidding it at a later time.”

Peterson tells Raccoon Valley Radio one of the possible reasons the cost came in high was an issue with PVC pipe availability. Peterson says some of the refineries in Texas are closed down which provide some of the products that are used to make PVC pipe. 

“A large quantity was going to be needed for the wastewater treatment project. The unstability in that pipe market just really threw off a lot of things and again that’s what we are seeing. It’s really just in the last six months or so since that storm that that pipe issue has really come up.”

Peterson says the City will continue to look into their options and will find a solution to move forward.