Decades-old sewer infrastructure beneath the intersection of I-587, Route 32 and Broadway must be dug up and replaced.

The city of Kingston is borrowing money to fund the project before the New York State Department of Transportation begins the two-year construction project of a roundabout next fall.

City officials have said the roundabout is going to make traffic flow more smoothly through this busy midtown intersection, and that the state and federal governments are going to pay for all of it.

First though, the city must pay for — and complete — the less sexy, underground improvements, and it is costing significantly more than originally expected.

In December 2017, the Common Council authorized administrators to borrow $800,000 to make sure they had enough to cover what they believed would be a roughly $700,000 project. In August, the city engineer asked for $280,000 more, because the design needed to be changed, according to city documents.

Then, this month, he asked for another $20,000.

"Based on the low bid received by NYSDOT, the actual amount due to NYSDOT is $1,100,656.77, which exceeds the authorized borrowing," City Engineer John Schultheis wrote in a letter to Common Council President James Noble Jr. dated October 16. "Therefore, it is requested to increase borrowing from $1,080,000.00 to $1,100,656.77."

The council approved the request to borrow the remaining funds at its December 4 meeting. The bond is going to be paid off by taxpayers.

"There shall annually be levied on all the taxable real property of Kingston, a tax sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on such obligations as the same become due and payable," the bond ordinance reads.

Spectrum News reached out to Schultheis to ask whether he anticipates having to ask the council to approve more borrowing. As of late Monday evening, he had not responded.