City Council members were surprised Wednesday to get a bill for engraved bricks, muffins and pastries they received from Ciminelli Development Co. and Largo Real Estate Advisors during a groundbreaking ceremony last month for a new city courthouse and police station.
A $1.68 million invoice from the Ciminelli-Largo team submitted Wednesday to the Council for approval included $2,966 in charges for a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark the beginning of construction.
The charges included the cost of hard hats, a photographer, engraved bricks, catering, signs and a video copy of a morning newscast.
The Ciminelli-Largo team gave the bricks to city officials as mementos of reaching a significant milestone in what has been a lengthy project.
"We paid for own prizes," Councilman Sam Fruscione said.
When contacted by The Buffalo News on Wednesday, representatives from the development team agreed to remove the groundbreaking charges from the bill.
"We would be pleased to waive that cost and pay for it ourselves," said Gary Coscia, a Largo principal. Coscia said he was not aware before Wednesday that the groundbreaking charges were on the invoice, which was sent from Ciminelli's offices.
The Council is scheduled to vote on the payment Monday.
The charges highlighted a continuing frustration by city leaders about the cost of the $44.6 million project to construct a new public safety facility on North Main Street.
Under a development services agreement between the city and the Ciminelli-Largo team, the city agreed to reimburse all of the developers' expenses, including property acquisition, architectural fees and legal costs.
What has upset some city leaders is that the city has had to pay expenses that have included photocopies of documents, long-distance phone calls, hotel stays, meals and airfare.
Several City Council members raised objections early in the project to paying for travel expenses for out-of-town architects who stayed in hotels in Ontario when they came to meet with Niagara Falls officials.
After the concern was raised, invoices showed, the architects stayed in hotels in Niagara Falls.
The city already has reimbursed $4.16 million to the Ciminelli-Largo team.
The bill from Ciminelli-Largo also included a $113,688 credit to the city for land-acquisition costs and interest that were lower than originally anticipated.
The Council members received a copy of the bill Wednesday before a special budget meeting. During that meeting, the Council voted to override three vetoes from Mayor Vince Anello of changes they had made to his proposed $88 million budget for 2008.
The budget will decrease city property taxes slightly for the owners of commercial properties and will keep taxes about the same for homeowners.
The Council made 53 changes to the budget during the last month and transferred money that it cut from the spending plan to a new contingency account that can be used next year when Mayor-elect Paul A. Dyster takes office.
"We left him in good shape budgetwise," Councilman Lewis "Babe" Rotella said. "There's a great fund balance."
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