As already pointed out by many residents, Katherine Town Council's planned playground structure at the hot springs will need shade.

Council this week considered three options to shade the almost $400,000 turtle centrepiece at the new playground.

The recommended option, costing $59,000, will go to the council meeting on Tuesday night for final consideration.

Again, this was an unbudgeted expense for the hot springs project, which has already seen $1.5 million diverted from the CBD upgrades.

While council has continually told residents no ratepayer money is going towards the overall project cost, with all the funds provided by the NT Government, the turtle's shade may need to come from council's funds.

The recommendation being put to council's meeting next week is to add the shade cost for consideration in a budget review in April.

Already about $3 million has been spent on the hot springs project which began four years ago.

The first stage of the works is complete but the second stage, to include the controversial turtle, is expected to be finished in the next few months.

When the turtle design was unveiled by council last month many readers commented on the Katherine Times' Facebook page about how the planned concrete and steel structure would attract heat and be dangerous to children.

There were still many supporters for the new playground but everyone agree it would need shade.

Council has been told the shade would be built at the same time as the turtle.

The other three options put to council were going to cost either $44,000 for a shade sail, or $75,000 for a solid construction, or the most expensive $109,000 for a larger hard cover structure.

The option picked out by council is for a 10X10 metre hard cover fixed between four posts.

The difference with the more expensive options is that it does not include soffit or vertical siding.

Council has been told it will need to reallocate funds towards the shade "as no funds were budgeted for in the original budget deliberations".

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday at 6am from the Katherine Times. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.