The dredging of Winter’s Pond isn’t going to cost the township as much as originally anticipated.

The cost savings, according to an update report from township engineer Mike Kelly at last Thursday’s town council meeting, is due to a new plan for the removal of the silt taken from pond.

“During construction, the contractor found an area behind tot lot playground where we can put a lot of dredged material,” Kelly said Thursday. The area, he explained, will need to be cleared, but that cost will be “much lower” than what the town would have to pay to get the silt removed.

According to Kelly, removing the silt and other “dredged material” would cost between $4 and $5,000.  There will be costs associated with the “extra work” the contractor will take on to move the material to the newly found site on the west side of the pond, but those costs will be “insignificant” compared to what removal costs would have been.

The engineer also added that the contractor will take some of the material himself, at no cost to the town.

The dredging plan, originally approved by the council in July, was estimated at that time to cost a total of $234,000. The work is being done by KG Marine Contracting of Manahawkin, NJ, who Kelly said is “doing a good job.”

The project will require removing a total of about 18,000 cubic feet of sand and silt from the 4.7-acre pond.

When it was approved, the council and residents expressed concerns about flooding in the area. At that time, Kelly said the dredging should help.