City revises giant ‘Brandon’ sign cost to $600K
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The city has dropped the estimated cost for a giant ‘Brandon’ sign to $600,000.
On Thursday, a city spokesperson said the price tag would be $6 million — but the next day, staff said the figure was actually one-tenth of that amount.
Troy Tripp, the city’s finance director, confirmed Friday that $600,000 was the correct amount.
A rendering of a giant Brandon sign that city officials hope would boost tourism. (Supplied)
The proposal for the giant sign had been presented by economic development director Gerald Cathcart at Monday’s special meeting ahead of budget deliberations. Cathcart recommended council not approve the expenditure this year but instead develop a “comprehensive tourism and event attraction strategy.”
No cost estimate for the project was given during the presentation.
For this month’s budget meetings, the city did not attach council reports — which detail recommendations, impacts and costs of projects — to the agenda, so the cost of the project wasn’t shared publicly.
The Sun reached out to the city for the cost on Wednesday afternoon before receiving the incorrect information from the city spokesperson on Thursday.
Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the city providing an incorrect number was “just an honest error.”
Fawcett said the documents that council members were given before the presentation did not include the estimated price tag for the sign, and he did not know the cost on Monday.
“I think there was just an error in communication. That happens,” he said.
On Friday afternoon, the city issued a news release on budget deliberations, saying the incorrect $6-million figure for the sign was an error caused by “miscommunication.”
“Council is instead considering a proposal to allocate $350,000 within the capital plan toward a Brandon sign and necessary site preparation,” the release said. “The estimated total project cost is approx. $600,000, with partial funding to come from the Accommodation Tax Reserve, as well as an intention to pursue grant and/or private funding for the remaining portion.”
Fawcett said the city always needs to work on its communication and “that is something that that we are internally continuing to look at.”
» alambert@brandonsun.com