OCEANSIDE —- Despite being an estimated $7.1 million over budget, the North County Transit District awarded a $24.3 million construction contract for a maintenance facility that will serve as home base for the Sprinter light rail line Thursday.

The bid, awarded to Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., is $7.9 million more expensive than estimated in the Sprinter's budget.

Transit district spokesman Tom Kelleher said Friday the bid includes an estimated $706,000 in insurance costs that will likely be deducted because building the facility will be insured by an overarching insurance policy that covers all Sprinter-related construction activities.

"The engineering department is auditing the bid to determine the exact amount," Kelleher said.

Located near the Escondido Transit Center, the maintenance facility will house numerous Sprinter functions, including dispatching, security, a fueling depot, administrative offices, repair and maintenance facilities and storage for Sprinter cars.

Jerome Stocks, chair of the North County Transit District board, said Friday that elevated prices for steel and concrete precipitated by the damage wrought on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina, helped drive the bid's cost far over budget.

"The analysis that our people did showed that, as a result of worldwide events, the cost of steel and concrete have gone haywire," Stocks said. "Steel and concrete, that's pretty much all this project is."

According to district officials, the project's cost overrun will be absorbed by the Sprinter's $10.2 million "contingency" fund. The overrun will draw the fund's balance down to only $3.1 million.

Stocks said he is not happy that the project's financial cushion is nearly deflated while the Sprinter is less than halfway toward its completion date of December, 2007.

"I would definitely be happier if this wasn't the case," Stocks said. "But that's why we have a contingency fund."

Kelleher said the district hopes to identify additional areas of the maintenance facility bid that can be eliminated in order to further reduce the project's total cost. One possibility, he said, is not building an automated train-wash facility that was to be included in the 40,000-square-foot building.

"We had budgeted it at $500,000 but it came in at $1.5 million in the bid," Kelleher said.

The 22-mile, $385 million Sprinter light rail line will run from Oceanside to Escondido, roughly following Highway 78. It includes a 1.7 mile loop that dips south from the main line to serve Cal State San Marcos. The project's cost was restated last week after the district included approximately $10 million of financing costs.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.