The city of Cape Coral is trying its best to make sure projects funded through a voter-approved $60 million General Obligation Bond for the city’s parks remain on time and on budget.

The city opened a brand-new playground at Giuffrida Park this week. But there is a whole lot the city still has to do and there is concern from residents that with the way construction costs have shot through the roof, the city may go a little (or a lot) over the $60 million mark and the Dec. 31, 2022 completion date.

Kerry Runyon, Parks and Recreation director, said four neighborhood parks have been awarded bids, and construction should start by fall. Those are Joe Coviello, Sands, Cultural and Gator Circle parks.

“We pulled the playground part of Giuffrida Park out and went ahead and took care of that. That’s been done and the rest of the park will be done as well under the GO Bond,” Runyon said.

The four parks out to bid are on budget, as those are the ones that have come in so far, Runyon said. The rest have not been put out to bid yet. Runyon still expects the neighborhood parks to be completed by the end of 2022.

“The only concern would be the Yacht Club, as it’s the most involved project. The last neighborhood park will probably be Tropicana,” Runyon said. “We’re dealing with the (Army) Corps of Engineers and it’s on the waterway, which is a little harder to deal with.”

Another complex park is Lake Kennedy Racquet Center. The plan was finalized Wednesday to bring it to 90 percent completion. Once that reaches 100 percent, it will go out to bid. Utility relocation must be completed before then, which is the same for Festival and Lake Meade parks, as well as replating.

Runyon said the pace of things is going as she expected, and since there were no structures going up on the four parks out for bid, costs there should remain low.

“Right now, construction prices are going up. The four parks that came in are at a good price because there’s nothing building oriented that’s going there,” Runyon said.

On the budget front, the city council set the not-to-exceed millage rate for the GO Bond debt service at 0.1416 at its regular meeting Wednesday.

In FY 2020, $10.2 million of the $60 million authorized by voters was issued. It was anticipated that in FY 2021 the remaining $49.8 million would be issued and the debt service was calculated based on the timing of this debt issuance. Due to the timing of awarding contracts, executing that debt was not warranted, officials said.

In FY 2022 it is planned to issue $30 million of the remaining balance to borrow to avoid paying taxes on the interest earned on the debt.