A $35,000 budget blowout on a planned new Rural Fire Service depot at Tarras will be absorbed by the Central Otago District Council, which voted to waive building consent fees and other "internal" levies to ensure the project is completed.
The overspending was due to higher than forecast building costs, council property and facilities manager Mike Kerr said.
"Essentially, the accessway to the depot needs a lot more work than we thought and the tenders for the shed were significantly higher than anticipated," he told councillors at a meeting held in Alexandra yesterday.
The project has attracted funding of $30,000 from the National Rural Fire Authority and also had an initial approved budget of $70,000 from the council.
The council had anticipated it would have to authorise overspending of $75,000 for the project.
However, this had been avoided after the New Zealand Transport Agency decided not to proceed with a highway roading requirement to widen State Highway 8 - at the council's cost - opposite the depot's planned entrance, Mr Kerr said.
