Even after preparing for higher costs, the price of a new stadium at Oak Harbor High School still came in over budget.

Despite that, cheers erupted when the low bid was accepted by the school board Monday night.

The school district received five bids for construction of the field and grandstand that will be named Wildcat Memorial Stadium. However, those came in hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the school district had budgeted.

“We opened the bids and they came in high — disappointingly high,” Superintendent Rick Schulte said during the meeting.

The lowest bid from Bellingham-based Ebenal General of $7.6 million put the cost for the entire project at $9.29 million, which is $697,000 higher than budgeted.

The other firms that bid on the stadium were Colacurcio Brothers from Blaine, ($7.8 million), Wick Constructors from Seattle ($7.9 million), Cassel Construction from Redmond ($8.07 million) and A-1 Landscaping and Construction from Snohomish ($8.1 million).

School officials contacted the estimating firm used to help determine the stadium budget to figure out the discrepancy between the budget and the bids. Higher than anticipated costs for the aluminum bleachers, electrical and mechanical work were blamed for the high bids.

Inflated costs were nothing new. School officials had seen the costs for the stadium increase months ago. To account for the initial increase, they diverted money from other funding sources such as supplemental Impact Aid.

The project is also being funded by a $6.5 million voter-approved bond and $500,000 in community donations raised by the Oak Harbor Rotary.

The school board weighed several options before deciding to accept the low bid from Ebenal. The new stadium won’t have seatbacks for the bleachers or overhead locker room doors. Schulte said those items could be added at a later date.

The school district is also going with the least expensive artificial playing surface, however, Schulte said the $475,000 surface is a good surface that is used in professional and college football stadiums.

There were several options officials considered, but they were dismissed because it would delay the project and could further increase costs.

Should the school district rebid the project, there wouldn’t be any guarantees costs would lower, especially since the five bids were close in price.

“We do not believe that is a worthwhile option,” Schulte told the board. Such an action would also delay construction for one to two months and affect the fall sports season.

Officials dismissed redesigning the stadium because it would cut items that would lower the facility’s quality in an effort to keep up with escalating costs. It would also delay the project by at least six months.

School board members were frustrated by the high cost but wanted to move forward with the current plans.

“We made promises to the community. This has got to be there for the next 30 years,” school board member Kathy Jones said.

Board members didn’t make any further cuts to the facility.

“I think we’re as lean as we can possibly get on this,” board member David McCool said.

Fellow board member Corey Johnson would have liked better information about the stadium costs earlier in the process.

“I’m disappointed the information that was brought to the school board wasn’t more accurate,” Johnson said.

To pay for the higher costs, the school district will use money from a prioritized list of funding sources.

The two preferable areas officials will use to make up the costs come from a project contingency fund and Department of Defense Supplemental funding. There is $380,000 in project contingency that is used for unanticipated costs that come up during construction. The school district is expecting to receive approximately $320,000 in supplemental funding that has been used for capital projects in the past. However, there isn’t any guarantee the school district will receive all the money.

Less preferable areas school officials could consider dipping into would be unallocated earnings from bond investments or by taking out a limited government obligation bond. However, there are circumstances that discouraged officials from using those options.

The investment earning could be needed for the upcoming high school renovation project while the bonds would have to be paid back using money from the district’s general fund, which is used to pay for such essentials as employee salaries.

“Those are just real long shots,” Schulte said.

In the end, the school board unanimously accepted the bid to cheers from the audience filled with football coaches, school staff, Rotary members and football fans.

A Wildcat Memorial Stadium groundbreaking has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4 at the old track at Oak Harbor High School.