City of Greater Geraldton reveals total cost of Horizon Ball replacement after budget adjustment

The City of Greater Geraldton has revealed the latest Horizon Ball sculpture cost about $130,000 after ordering a sturdier and more resistant glass sphere. At the agenda forum last Tuesday, Cr Michael Reymond asked for the total adjusted cost of the Horizon Ball after it was replaced in December last year. Cr Reymond said there was a $38,000 reduction in budgeted costs and was curious to know the total cost in the end. Corporate services director Paul Radalj said the original budget was predicted based on works being more expensive than what they were. “We made (a) prevision in regards to the installation, those works have come in a lot lower than the prevision we made,” he said. “We underspent a little bit there in that regard but we made previsions because we had a lot of unknowns regarding that, so the prevision was a lot higher.” Its predecessor — a two-tonne hollow acrylic sphere that held 1800 litres of water — cost $80,000 to order and about another $20,000 to install, with a total cost of $100,000. The City also spent $8000 to repair cracks in the original sphere before it was completely destroyed due to structural faults and high temperatures in December 2021. The City confirmed last week the new ball cost “roughly $130,000” including purchase, installation costs and repairs to damage caused by teen troublemakers just hours after it was set up. The budget for the replacement ball including installation was $123,000, which was covered by insurance after the City paid a $10,000 excess charge.