City council reluctantly awarded a contract Monday worth $2.5 million to fix sloughing on Willowcale Road at Haggith Creek.
As a consequence, the total project budget now stands at $2.8 million, roughly $1 million more than previously been budgeted.
The decision comes after council decided to dig into internal funds to pay for the work due to a delay in securing a loan from the Municipal Finance Authority.
The contract was awarded to Belvedere Place Contracting Ltd., which submitted the lowest of five bids.
Accepting the bid was a "little hard to stomach" said Coun. Jillian Merrick, but necessary because "timing is of the essence." Otherwise, "there might not be a road there next year."
Similar trouble is coming for other projects as the city's infrastructure ages, warned Coun. Brian Skakun.
"I think we as a municipality have to be prepared to save for that rainy day because there are going to be more of them coming," Skakun said.
Coun. Garth Frizzell echoed Skakun's comment.
"This is a result of aging infrastructure and we've got a lot of it in the city," he said. "Luckily, we've got some grant programs in place but they're not big enough and this isn't something that's going to be a surprise. There could be more."
The high price "is likely due to high demand as tenders for several large projects in the province have recently closed which, consequently, has driven up material and fabricating costs," according to a staff report.
