Just one company has made a bid to remove three Confederate monuments in the city of New Orleans and it wants $600,000 for the work.
The lone bid has been submitted by Cuzan Services Limited and the price is more than three times the amount the city had budgeted.
The company wants $300,000 to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee at Lee Circle and $150,000 each to remove the statue of General P.G.T Beauregard near the entrance to City Park and the monument to Jefferson Davis along Canal Street at Jefferson Davis Parkway.
The city has said it wants the monuments taken down by the middle of May.
$170,000 was budgeted by the city for the removal of the monuments and the funding was offered by an anonymous donor. The City Council may now need to authorize more money for the project.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who led the charge to remove them, has said the city plans to put them in a city warehouse until a new permanent location is selected for their display.