Town hall repairs will hit other projects

The Town of Stratford will vote Wednesday night on its 2011 budget, and while repairs to the town hall will not raise taxes other capital spending will be limited because of them.

The town hall was built in 2003, and the trouble with the building started in 2009. There were water stains inside the building and shingles were flying off the roof.

Consultants hired by the town said repairs to the $5.5 million building would cost $600,000, not including the cost of replacing the roof.

"Unfortunately what it does is, if you spend $100,000 on the building it takes $100,000 from recreation-type things, public works, trails, that things like that," Stratford Mayor David Dunphy told CBC News Tuesday.

Dunphy said rotted exterior window frames have already been replaced, and money is set aside this year for roof work.

The consultants suggest that's just a fraction of all the work that needs to be done, but Dunphy said the town wants to put off the other repairs until liability is figured out.

"The council as a group feels that the town is not responsible for these costs," he said.

"Hopefully in the end the costs won't come from the taxpayers of Stratford."

The town believes blame should fall on the builder, Schurman's. That company has since been bought out by Irving-owned Kent Building Supplies.

No one from Irving was available for comment Tuesday.