BRUNSWICK

The Brunswick Town Council unanimously voted Monday to amend the 2013- 14 budget in order to appropriate $150,000 for the newly renovated town hall.

Council Chairman Benet Pols was quick to point out that the $150,000 is already budgeted, and was the same amount identified in February for cost overruns.

“This is not new cost overruns,” Pols said.

The town acquired the former McLellan Building for use as its new town hall in a trade with Bowdoin College for the former Longfellow Elementary School in an agreement reached in 2011.

Town offices moved to McLellan in early April.

Interim Town Manager John Eldridge said he hoped the actual overrun would be “substantially less” than the $150,000 appropriated on Monday.

About $100,000 will be needed to fix lighting issues and make counters ADA accessible, among other work.

The council conducted a public hearing on the expenditure June 2. No one from the public participated at the hearing, although some constituents contacted council members earlier with concerns about spending on McLellan.

The town will also pay about $200,000 annually for building maintenance, and repairs to window trim may be forthcoming.

It has cost more than $1 million to renovate McLellan. Funding the McLellan Building renovations has been a source of tension in the town, and was one of the bones of contention between the council and former Town Manager Gary Brown.

“I would like for one project to happen in this town to come under budget,” said Councilor John Perreault on Monday.

Perreault said the council needed to “do our due diligence” when undertaking such projects.

His frustrations were echoed by Councilor Jane Millett.

“These estimates should have been made when the decision was made to trade Longfellow for McLellan,” Millett said. “There was not advanced budgeting and accounting.”

However, Millett conceded that the council had “no other choice” but to honor its agreements with its contractors, and so needed to appropriate the funds.

Councilor Gerard Favreau defended the process by which the town acquired McLellan.

“Being on this committee, and being a designer — you won’t have actual costs for a budget until a design is done,” Favreau said. “All you can do is a rough order of magnitude. … The committee did their due diligence.”

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com

McLellan timeline

THE LATEST UPDATE on the cost of renovating the McLellan Building is $1,231,000. Here is a timeline of the shifting costs of renovating the building, so far:

— October 2011. Brunswick Town Council agrees to a swap with Bowdoin College to acquire the McLellan Building. The cost of renovating McLellan at the time is $100,000, based on estimates by PDT Architects. Fearing the number to be low, then- Town Manager Gary Brown raises the estimate to $200,000.

— March 27, 2012. The council rejects an offer to sell McLellan back to Bowdoin College for $2 million, after it is revealed that a new estimate by Wright-Ryan and Ouellet Associates for gutting and renovating the first two floors came in closer to $800,000.

— May 23, 2013. The council adopts a capital budget that includes $50,000 to fund planning and designing activities for McLellan renovations.

— Nov. 18, 2013. The council appropriates up to $950,000 from the general fund for the project.

— Dec. 16, 2013. The council receives a revised estimation of McLellan cost at $992,032.

— Jan. 13, 2014. Bowdoin College contributes a total of $81,100 to purchase a generator for the building.

— June 16, 2014. The council appropriates $150,000 for additional expenditures.