WHEATON, Ill. (STNG) - The village of Lisle has been ordered to pay nearly $1 million by a DuPage County jury to a Lombard construction firm.

Tires 'N Tracks Inc. filed the civil suit against the village in June 2003, citing breach of contract for the construction of a relief sanitary sewer.

On Thursday a jury awarded the Lombard-based firm $914,000 plus court costs.

According to a release from TNT's attorneys, Chicago-based firm Much Shelist, after beginning work on the sewer, differing site conditions, including heavy layers of underground rock, were encountered than those initially indicated on the contract.

The village directed TNT to continue work despite increased costs and then declined to pay for the additional work and withheld the last interim payment and retainer owed to the firm, according to the release.

The suit also claimed that the village violated the Public Construction Act of Illinois, which protects against such actions.

"The jury clearly felt that the village should live up to its responsibilities," said James Dash, of Much Shelist, in a written statement regarding the $914,000 jury award, which recoups nearly the entire original contract amount.

Lisle village manager Jerry Sprecher said there is disappointment in the jury award. "We think it's an incorrect one, but we have to live with it," he said.

He said the award will be paid from the sewer fund and is not sure if an appeal will be sought.

"It's a large amount of money we didn't anticipate spending," he said.