The cost of Paul Brown Stadium has jumped $2.6 million — a total of $48.8 million more than taxpayers bargained for — and will probably climb higher as construction managers finish their review of the budget.

        The Enquirer reported last week that the price of the new Bengals home was going up again, the second such bump since February, when construction managers first promised that the stadium would be no more than $45 million over budget.

        Overruns inched up $1.2 million after an August budget review and now will go up again.

CHANGES, CHANGES

A review of the approved changes since August shows only two saved money. There were no huge expenditures on any of the changes, but dozens that slowly chipped away at the budget. Some examples:     • Various entries for overtime, $90,568.     • Adding smoke detectors, $145,703.     • Scoreboard sign adjustments, $190,397.     • Relocation of toilet exhaust fans, $39,545.     • Revised steel for stairs, $30,520.

        A review of construction documents shows that more than 60 changes to stadium contracts, along with overtime to get the stadium ready on time, have pushed the budget further into the red.

        Project director W. Shelby Reaves said there are about 70 more changes still in need of review before he reports to Hamilton County commissioners. That will happen sometime in the next two weeks.

        “There are still other issues and things out there that will impact the bottom line,” Mr. Reaves said. “Intuitively, I'd say it won't be significantly more, but probably more (than the $2.6 million).”

        Mr. Reaves declined to give his definition of “significantly more.”

        “We're in the middle of doing that,” he said of figuring the cost of the changes.

        When all the stadium costs are added — including land and professional fees for the architect and construction managers — the price of Paul Brown Stadium is $455.8 million, and climbing.

        The “red” numbers have Tim Mara seeing red.

        Mr. Mara, who led the campaign against a sales tax increase to build two riverfront stadiums, said every increase counts.

        “I have to catch myself getting numb to the numbers,” Mr. Mara said. “But then I think about all the other purposes $2.6 million could serve — it would buy a lot of parkland and pay for a lot of police officer salaries.”

        Mr. Mara said taxpayers approved the sales tax in 1996 based on the notion that both stadiums would be built for $544 million. The Reds ballpark, along with the demolition of Cinergy Field and infrastructure improvements, will cost at least $330 million.

        “They were off by just one stadium,” Mr. Mara quipped.

        Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus, who campaigned for the tax increase, did not return repeated phone calls. Mr. Bedinghaus lost his re-election bid in November to Todd Portune, who made stadium spending the centerpiece of his campaign.

        Mr. Portune said he's not confident the overruns are over. There is still more work to be done.

        “We have neighborhoods and communities fighting for fractions of that kind of money,” Mr. Portune said. “It's not an open spigot and it has to be turned off.”

        Hamilton County Administrator Dave Krings said he expects all of the work at Paul Brown Stadium to be completed by March. He said a construction auditor's report, which will be used by the county to try to recover some of the money spent on overruns, will be out later this month or early January.

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