Times Observer file photo The Warren City Council has taken steps to try to put $2 million in state grant funding into repairs at the Clark Street Parking Garage

The Warren City Council has approved an additional $2 million in funding for further repairs to the Clark Street Parking Garage.

City Manager Nancy Freenock said the proposal is to move $2 million in state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) dollars already awarded to the city to expand rehabilitation efforts at the garage.

She said this is in addition to the $3.6 million borrowed to fund repairs. After a loan payoff, there will be $2.3 million applied from that loan to the garage. Engineering costs are estimated at $500,000.

That brings the total the city aims to invest in the garage to $2.8 million.

“Between the engineering and inflation, we’ll use it,” Department of Public Works Director Mike Holtz said.

It’s not yet clear whether the garage repairs are an eligible use of the RACP funds.

Freenock told the council that the “grant has already been awarded” but said there is a “question whether the Office of Budget will approve rehabilitation of the garage as an eligible project.”

The resolution council approved Monday will seek clarity from the state on that issue.

The $3.6 million loan the city took out earlier this year paid off nearly $800,000 in downtown streetscape debt with the rest allocated to garage repairs.

Staff told the council at the time that the loan payment terms would keep the city’s annual debt service relatively flat. Estimates presented then were that the improvements could add 10 years to the life of the garage.

Holtz told the council that a rebuild of the garage could cost upwards of $10 million. He said the work would include repair of the concrete and expansion joints as well as repainting and repair of the pans that hold the concrete in place.