WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - The city of Watertown got some good news on Thursday as bids for city hall renovations came in lower than expected.

Last month, officials were told to expect the cost to be more than $8 million.

The need to renovate city hall and the courtroom started in 2014 when the state mandated a second courtroom be built. The city got out from under that mandate, but renovations were still mandated.

The bids for 6 different aspects of the project were opened, and the low bids totaled up to $6.2 million.

“I would say that’s good news because the last projection that we had on the cost was 8.6 million, so that is significantly less,” said Mayor Sarah Pierce.

City leaders say the only cost not in the $6.2 million estimate is an engineering oversight contract, and that c

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