With new liquor store over budget, council leans on general fund, loan

Interfund loan to be paid back over 2 years at 3% interest

Excitement continues to linger in the air for Tracy’s new municipal liquor store on Hwy. 14 in the old Food ’n’ Fuel building, but the Tracy City Council last week had to smooth out a $55,000 bump in the road to keep up momentum for the big move in a way that won’t affect taxpayers.

The council was notified last Tuesday that the project is running $52,070 over budget because of unexpected expenses with the interior walls due to water damage, as well as major repairs to the parking lot and an increase in scope with the addition of the “beer cave,” which came with a roughly $20,000 price tag.

“When we started tearing the building apart, we found some rot and other problems in the walls and that cost us additional money,” Tracy City Administrator Erik Hansen said. “On a pure project basis, we ended up being about $52,000, at this point, over budget. If you added it all up, the land, and the building and the remodel — this doesn’t include the labor cost and the building itself — we ended up about $55,000 over, and our total budget is about $167,000, and that includes $33,000 for the land.”

See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.