BOE Member: $200K Capital Overrun 'Not Acceptable'

The voted Monday to add $200,000 to its capital reserve account to cover cost overruns of projects being done this summer.

Board member Judith Haas said the cost overruns, amounting to about 30 percent of the capital improvement budget, was “not acceptable.”

“I’m really not happy about this,” she said. “It’s not good planning.”

Board member Greg Gillette said initial costs on the projects throughout the school were higher by about $70,000 than estimates. Gillette said school district “could handle that” by trimming costs.

However, when total costs came in at about $180,000 over budget, Gillette said, “there was no way we could make it work.”

This is the first time the school district had to add money to the account, Gillette said.

“We have not done it before,” he said.

However, the capital reserve fund still has about $1 million, Superintendent of Schools Jorden Schiff said. The board had already decided to transfer $700,000 to the fund earlier this year, he said.

Schiff said the overrun was caused by estimates by the school district’s architectural firm that were too low and some of the projects required more work than was expected. For example, he said, a heating and cooling project became more expensive when the system had to be “re-engineered” instead of just repaired.

The school district budget for the 2012-13 school year, including the capital projects, is about $113 million.

Among the projects in the $508,000 capital improvement budget are painting classrooms in some schools, repairs to gymnasium floors and new lighting in the parking lot of Woodfern School.