It will now cost the Town of Peace River more money to replace two servers.
Council’s capital budget included the replacement of two servers at a total cost of $50,000. The budget was based on an estimate that administration received in late 2025, but with rising costs, the new confirmed price for the replacement of the two servers was substantially higher, triggering the need for additional funds.
“The current quote for the replacement of the two servers came in at $82,753, which is $32,753 higher than the amount requested in the capital budget, driven mainly by the cost of RAM,” says Mayor Shelly Shannon.
“RAM (random-access memory) prices have increased significantly since fall of 2025 by two to three times, and servers require large amounts of RAM. There are a number of factors impacting the price of RAM, mainly the increasing RAM needs of AI Data centres and worldwide trade issues, including tariffs.”
Shannon adds these issues are not expected to be resolved in the near future, and the price of RAM is expected to continue to rise.
“As a result, waiting to purchase the servers will likely result in an even higher price if we choose to wait,” Shannon adds.
“We are starting to have hardware issues with the servers, and they are no longer supported by the manufacturer which places our network and systems at risk of not working. When there are issues with the servers, staff cannot access software or data and productivity is impacted.”
The current town servers are about 10 years old and at the end of their useful life.
Peace River council decided unanimously at its regular meeting April 27 to add the additional $33,000 to the capital budget for the server replacement project.
Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter