Rocky Mountain House town council has approved a funding increase for the community’s wastewater treatment facility.

During their regular meeting on Tuesday, council gave the green light to a $3.6 million funding boost for the wastewater treatment facility.

Town officials say the tender for the Rocky Mountain House Wastewater Treatment Facility has been completed and four competitive tenders were provided.

They say the lowest cost tender results in a project completion cost of $30,799,121.05. Officials say this cost is 13.1 per cent or $3,576,121.05 more than the pre-tender estimate completed during the feasibility study in 2018 used for grant funding.

However, council notes there are two options to consider for this project. The first one being, the Town could consider reducing the overall project costs by negotiating with the low bidder on potential scope cost reductions and reductions in treatment capacity.

Council says, they have completed a high-level budgetary pricing for items and removal, and modifications could provide approximately $1,250,000.00 in cost savings at the expense of reduced treatment capacity. According to council this reduction would result in a lack of redundancy, a maximum 10-year operating capacity and future costs to retrofit the facility at a later date.

Secondly it would be to increase the funding by $3.6 million.

Town administration recommended seeking additional funding as it is in line with the 2018 Feasibility study and gives the Town of Rocky Mountain House the longest term before upgrades would need to be done.

At the end of discussions, Councillor Dave Auld put a motion forward that council approve an increase of $3.6 million to the wastewater treatment plant capital project from $27,223,000 to $30,823,000 with funding sources to be from the Clearwater County contribution and debentures for the Town’s portion.

The motion was unanimously passed by council.