MARSHALL — The estimated cost of updates to a sewer lift station near Highway 23 in Marshall is more than $200,000 higher than city staff originally planned for, Marshall City Council members learned Tuesday.

Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson said the estimated cost for the lift station project was $580,000, while the city’s wastewater capital improvement plan had only included $350,000 for the project. Anderson said the wastewater budget could handle the cost difference, but council members said the city still needs to keep a close watch when projects go over budget.

In the end, the council voted 6-1 to authorize the city to go out for bids on the project.

The lift station, located near Minnesota Highway 23 and Tiger Drive, was built after 1993 flooding in Marshall. The lift station collects wastewater from about a third of the city, and pumps it to the wastewater treatment plant. Anderson said the city plans to replace the station’s existing pumps, update the electrical systems, and make other improvements. The city would also need to do bypass pumping while the lift station is offline, he said.

Engineering firm Bolton & Menk had prepared bid documents for the proposed project, Anderson said at Tuesday’s council meeting.

“The project estimate at this point is $580,000. We’re proposing to charge engineering fees of 8% on the project, for a total of $626,400 in our current estimate,” he said. Expenses had grown since the time when the city put together its CIP, Anderson said.

“I would say the wastewater budget is capable of absorbing this difference between estimate and current budget. We’ve had numerous things in our CIP come in favorably this year for the wastewater budget,” Anderson said.

“You have in the CIP $350,000 for this. So you’re assuming this is going to be $230,000 to $300,000 over budget?” said council member James Lozinski.

“We hope that our estimate is high. Bolton & Menk has told us as much, that they feel like this is a comfortable estimate,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the city had aseen some other projects in the wastewater budget come in under budget. For example, a resurfacing project at the wastewater facilities came in at $56,000 instead of the $150,000 budgeted. The city also expected that wastewater costs in the Lyon Street/Third Street reconstruction project would be less than originally budgeted, Anderson said.

“When you add these things up, we’re well allocated to cover the difference between the original estimate and current cost,” he said.

Both Lozinski and council member Steven Meister asked if the council could get more detailed information when bids for the project came in.

“I would like to see that broke down so we can figure out where this is coming from, because we’re over budget, and we had another project just two weeks ago go over budget, and we’ve really got to start watching these,” Lozinski said.

Earlier this month, the bids for the Lyon/Third Street reconstruction came in close to a quarter-million dollars higher than estimated.

Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes asked if the city would still be able to handle emergency wastewater flows while the lift station was offline.

Anderson said he and wastewater superintendent Scott Truedson had been talking with Bolton & Menk about making sure the contractor is prepared to handle both normal flows through the lift station, and possibly peak capacity flows.

Council members ultimately voted 6-1 to go out for bids on the lift station project. Meister cast the vote against.