REFURBISHMENT costs to Tavistock Town Council?s Drake Road building have rocketed by more than £80,000 ? forcing the authority to dig into its reserves.

The council has to update its ageing Grade II Listed offices to comply with new disability access laws which come into force next year.

But in addition to construction of disabled access, a lift, fire escape and a disabled toilet, further work now needs to be done on the roof and heating system and the cupola is now so dangerous it is in urgent need of repair.

Town clerk Roger Howard told members at last week?s finance committee that the scaffolding was up at the Drake Road offices and that council staff had successfully relocated to 13 Duke Street for the duration of the building project.

He said the council had only allowed £90,000 in this year?s budget for the work ? if the contractor was to leave the site until more money became available, the costs would increase ?substantially?. He told members the job could be done in four months if it was completed ?in one go?.

Col Howard said: ?We don?t have a lot of flexibility. There is a lot of pain in this ? we can go through the budget with a red pen, but the reserves are sitting there in an investment account ? we are now at the crunch.?

Cllr Betty Batchelor said ?thousands? could be saved by taking the balance required to do the complete job from reserves, though it would mean other projects the council wished to undertake would have to ?drop further down the agenda?.

Cllr Roy Connelly said time had ?caught up? with the council as far as the Drake Road building was concerned.

?We really need to get our hands round this budget and make sure that every month, we have an update, we need to know what the running costs are month by month,? he said.

Cllr Mandy Govier said there was no point ?giving the town clerk a hard time? about the situation ? she said after many hours of debate the council had finally agreed to stay in the Drake Road building and refurbish it ? the council should now bite the bullet and go ahead with it.

The committee agreed to move forward and use the council?s reserves to complete the £270,000 refurbishment programme.

The decision means the balance left at the end of the year will only be about £50,000 ? less than half the amount recommended by auditors.