Heber City is in the middle of a years-long, multimillion-dollar process to replace its 70-year-old water and sewer infrastructure.
The project broke ground in 2022 after city leaders budgeted $43 million for work on the east side of town.
Now city manager Matt Brower says inflation has driven up costs.
In early July, city councilmembers approved a new construction contract to spend about $2.3 million more than planned on the current phase of work. It includes pipe replacements along 400 North and 500 North, plus intersecting roads east of Main Street. They also opted to reduce the scope of the project. The previous full project would have needed an extra $10.8 million total.
But two months later, it turns out that stopgap measure wasn’t enough.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Sept. 3, leaders will discuss whether to pass resolutions that would authorize them to issue three bonds to cover soaring construction costs, which could total as much as $12.5 million.
Heber dedicated $14.5 million to replacing water lines in this phase. It now needs another $3.5 million to finish the work. For sewer lines, costs will be about $6 million above the roughly $16 million in the original bonds. And the city needs an extra $1.6 million to pay for irrigation utilities on top of the $4.3 million originally planned.
City leaders had hoped to finish this phase of construction for the start of the school year; J.R. Smith Elementary sits along 500 North. School traffic continues to follow modified routes as construction crews prepare the roads for paving.
The Heber City Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday. This week, councilmembers will set the ceiling on how much they could bond. There will be a public hearing in October before the bonds are issued.
