West Kelowna’s new city hall was more than $6M over budget

West Kelowna’s new city hall went more than $6 million over budget and now the city wants to improve how it manages large projects.

It 2021, the new city hall and library was estimated to cost $18 million. The final price tag was $24.17 million, approximately $6.17 million over budget. 

“West Kelowna Council is extremely disappointed at this news, and these kinds of cost overruns must not continue,” Mayor Gord Milsom said in a media release issued today, March 4.

“We have this wonderful, much-needed complex, which provides centralized government services and a bustling civic centre area for our community, yet it has been overshadowed by these overruns, and we must implement policies and best practices that will keep future projects on track.”

The project and its cost overruns did not result in immediate property tax increases.

READ MORE: Another delay in opening of West Kelowna city hall

Chief administrator Ron Bowles said staff is going to work on new policies and procedures so future projects don’t run into the same cost overruns.

The policies will include budgeting using engineering protocols, confirming the scope before the project starts, using industry standard best practices, establishing procedures for changes like supply chain interruptions, as well as more frequent reports to council and the public on project progress.

“I understand that many factors contributed to the overruns, and while we cannot change the past, we will deliver better in the future,” Bowles said in the release.

“We will press forward with the engineering, budgeting, reporting and other project management best practices that council is directing us to deliver and implement a building process that’s predictable, efficient and transparent.”