By a 5-2 margin, Gloucester supervisors voted to move ahead with awarding the bid for the transportation and bus maintenance facility by increasing funding of the project by $2 million in order to match the winning bid of $6,989,000 from Oyster Point Construction, during a joint meeting with the school board on Oct. 19.

Outside of the $2 million, the supervisors also reallocated $611,848 of unspent school funds to support the transportation facility after being requested to do so by the school board. The additional $2,611,848 not only covers needed difference for the base bid but also includes construction of a $185,000 fuel canopy to the project, which will be constructed at Page Middle School. The canopy increased the project’s total to $7,174,000.

In August, when the initial bids came in, they did show the project was over budget. The question then became whether the board wanted to move forward with the project and, if so, how they would fund it. The bids were set to expire ...