DEXTER – A proposal to expand the Lake Wassookeag Dam project to include the replacement of a rock wall was rejected Thursday by the Town Council.

Councilors were convinced to nix the replacement because of the low probability that the current rock wall will move over the years and by the fact the dam project is already over budget.

“We have already spent a lot more money than we intended to originally,” council Chair Roger Brown said Thursday.

Without replacing the rock wall, the dam project is expected to cost about $331,400, which is about $63,000 more than the town has available. The town has $260,122, which includes a loan of $250,000 and $7,500 from the dam and lake reserve account to pay for the original project. It is expected the council will use the $61,000 in the ambulance reserve account to help cover the gap.

The engineer and contractor on the dam project had suggested that the town replace 21 feet of the east rock wall parallel to Route 7 at an additional cost of about $21,000. That cost is expected to rise to more than $100,000 if the wall has to be replaced in future years, according to resident engineer Robert Crawford.

The rock wall is not holding back water but there is one spot at ground level where daylight can be seen, Crawford said Thursday. If the town had the money, Crawford said, he would recommend the work be done now. With funds scarce, however, he felt it could wait. He said the rock wall had been part of the old roadbed and had been in place for about 100 years without failing.

If the rock wall collapsed, the new spillway should take care of the problem, according to Crawford.

“As far as replacing it, I’d leave it alone,” Crawford said.

Several options were presented when the project was first proposed, and one included the replacement of the portion of rock wall, Town Manager Judy Doore said. She said a committee of 10 residents voted to do just the wing walls and the sluiceway.

Doore said the town was ineligible for hazardous mitigation funds.