Mercer Island’s city staff anticipates that the first reading of a bond ordinance regarding the financing of a new Public Safety and Maintenance (PSM) Facility will occur at city council’s June 17 regular meeting, according to city documents.

Council is considering placing a bond measure on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Staff and council engaged in a robust review and discussion of the PSM schematic design at council’s June 3 regular meeting. It was revealed that the previous PSM cost estimate changed from a bit below $110 million (as noted in a Reporter story last month) to an updated estimated project budget of $103,902,076.

City documents state that the PSM design team’s next presentation at the June 17 meeting will include information on regulations and the process related to bond measures, a recommendation on the term and structure of the bond, and the estimated property tax impact on a median Mercer Island household.

The updated estimated project budget is based on the project’s schematic design, the value engineering process, and the design choices by the staff team and city council, the city said.

The estimate includes constructions costs ($75,163,324), soft costs ($21,194,108) and sales tax ($7,544,644). Soft costs include permitting costs, design costs, furniture and equipment, project management, legal fees, project contingency and the 1% for the arts contribution.

An escalation factor is also included and refers to the increase in the cost of construction materials, labor and other expenses over time and is based on historical and forward-looking industry data.

City Manager Jessi Bon noted that the original cost estimate ($105 million to $110 million) was a preliminary cost estimate, and the revised cost estimate is tied to the schematic design, which represents about 30% completion of the project design.