The County of St. Paul will replace three golf carts used in its parks system after council agreed the aging units are becoming too unreliable.

Administration said council had previously discussed replacing one mower and three golf carts through the interim budget process, but after re-evaluating the equipment, staff now believe the mower can last at least one more year. That shifted the focus to the golf carts instead.

One cart was written off at the end of last season following an incident, while two others are about 28 years old and becoming harder to maintain.

“It’s getting harder to find parts, and we’ve sent them away for some refurbishing, but that’s happening more frequently,” council heard.

Administration said campground attendants rely heavily on the carts to move around, carry cleaning supplies, check on campers, and deliver firewood.

“It’s quite disruptive when that equipment goes down for any reason,” council was told.

The county expects the replacement units to cost about $9,000 each for used gas-powered carts in the eight- to 10-year-old range. Insurance money received from the destroyed cart will help offset the purchase.

Council approved the purchase of all three carts and also approved disposing of the old units.