Jimmy Currier, Observer staff writer

With inflation always looming, the news at Rio Rancho city council’s meeting on Wednesday was a pleasant surprise.

That’s because the bid to deliver water to the new Sue Cleveland High School came in 20 percent below the engineer’s estimate. City councilors unanimously approved awarding a $2.15 million contract to AUI, Inc. of Albuquerque to build a waterline system to the high school, near the intersection of Paseo del Volcan and Iris.

Rio Rancho Public Works Director Lisa Vornholt informed the councilors that the contract is for $2,153,892.88. The original estimate was $2,680,415

“What happens in a market like this is certainly material costs have gone up but when contractor’s don’t have that many jobs going on, we get a lot of bids,” Vornholt said.

Vornholt said there were eight other bids. The contract covers a three-month construction period with completion in mid-December.

The water line runs from a location near the city center, east along Paseo del Volcan to the school.

The money for the project is coming from the city’s water capital improvement fund.