Could nationwide inflation delay Bay County government projects? Officials say yes

BAY COUNTY — Bay County Manager Bob Majka warned of projects possibly being delayed due to inflation during the commissioners' meeting on Tuesday.

Majka explained that inflation had greatly affected both the nation and Bay County, especially when it comes to materials used for projects.

“We’re starting to see the impact of inflation on unit pricing of materials, whether it’s asphalt, concrete, steel, all the different types of materials that either we use ourselves or the contractors that we hire to do the work use,” Majka said. “What that’s going to cause us to do is have to go back and revisit our budget and make sure that we’re able to fund the priority projects and some of the projects that may be a little further down on the list that maybe we were looking to accelerate, get done sooner or maybe they were scheduled to be done or having a delay because of this inflation or impact, we’re going to look at doing that.”

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While there is not yet a confirmed list of projects that will be delayed or accelerated, Majka said they will be looking at their list and will be bringing the first modification of the capital project program to the next commissioners meeting on Nov. 16

“The benefits of having control of that money here locally is we can do exactly that,” Majka said. “We can push the gas pedal if we need to accelerate projects, we can tap the brakes in situations like this when the economy's not in our favor on pricing. So, it just may be that these projects get done a little later than we planned and it may be that some of them we just delay until the economy rebounds and we see the inflation pass through the system and we get back to some more reasonable prices.”

Contractors have seen some material pricing rising 30% above what they saw last year, Majka said.

“They’re [contractors] looking for the best price, because it impacts their margin,” Majka said. “These projects that we put out are competitively bid so they have to make sure their pencils are tight, they are pretty sharp and their numbers are tight. So, it’s in their interest to have good pricing, it's in our interest to have good pricing for the public.”

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Residents are assured that these projects will get done, even if it takes a little bit longer. Majka also wants to communicate that they do have funds to allocate to these projects, such as surtax and gas tax revenue.

“Those funds are available; we program them accordingly in the budget and ask the commission to appropriate those dollars to specific projects and get them done,” Majka said. “So, the guarantee is that the projects are on the list and when the dollars are there, they’ll be executed.”

Majka said there is some good to come out of the stressful situation, such as reminding the county how to use its dollars efficiently.

“At the end of the day, while the downside is it may result in the delay of some projects, the upside is it will help us to be, and continue to be, fiscally responsible and make sure we are spending dollars wisely,” Majka said.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay County government projects could slow as US inflation rate rises