This tab is out of the park.
The cost to city taxpayers for recreational facilities replacing the parks that were taken over by the new Yankee Stadium has skyrocketed from $116 million to $195 million in less than four years, the city Independent Budget Office reported yesterday.
The report blamed the cost overruns on revised designs, additions to the projects, unanticipated hazardous-waste cleanup, and construction-work price overruns and delays.
The IBO attributed the bulk of the 67 percent increase, $30 million, to changes in the scope of the project, such as adding a pier to the planned Waterfront Park, which will house 16 tennis courts and a seasonal ice rink, and meeting environmental standards in one of the buildings.
“These costs are entirely predictable and the taxpayers should not be paying them and they’re only going to go up,” fumed Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Park Advocates.
Mayor Bloomberg defended the increased costs, saying that the facilities will benefit the public and that the cost overruns were inevitable.