The Valley Breeze

Troubled Ponaganset project will be reviewed by outside auditor

By ELIZABETH ABBOTT, Valley Breeze & Observer Correspondent

GLOCESTER - A divided Foster Glocester Regional School Committee has voted to hire an outside auditor to review the spending of the volunteer building committee that is overseeing the district's $57.7 million school building project.

The committee's June 29 vote to approve the so-called construction audit came in response to learning last month that the project may end up more than $1 million over budget by the time it is completed this summer, requiring an infusion of cash from a school district that feels it is already financially strapped due to cuts in state aid.

Committee member Peter Skeffington, of Glocester, made the motion calling for the audit, noting that since the project's financial woes have come to light, residents from both Foster and Glocester have angrily questioned why the project is over budget and also made it clear that they do not want to be asked to make up the difference.

"The public from both towns made it loud and clear that they want answers and they want an audit," Skeffington said in a statement he released this week to explain his motion.

"Now, with this audit at hand, they shall have their answers, and justifiably so as they are the ones who are paying the freight through state and property taxes," Skeffington wrote.

But the committee's vote was hardly unanimous; of the seven members who attended the June 29 meeting, four voted in favor of it and three against. Two committee members, co-chairman Ronald Cervasio of Foster and Chris Hebert of Glocester were absent. Joining Skeffington in favor of the audit was Steve Sette of Glocester, co-chairman Walter M.O. Steere Jr. of Glocester, and Cynthia Bernard of Foster. Voting against it were Dennis Chretien of Foster, Anne E. Ejnes of Glocester and Beth E. Keeling of Glocester.

The dissenters said they weren't opposed to the idea of an audit per se, but they objected to not knowing how much it was going to cost, Chretien explained this week. Skeffington readily acknowledged he did not know how much such an audit will cost.

"Nobody knows," said Chretien, adding there's some irony in the fact that the same people supposedly concerned about overspending by the school building committee are willing to spend an unspecified amount for an outside auditor, even though the project has been audited regularly and no problems have been uncovered.

"They want to go through every invoice. Fine. Let them do it. They won't find anything," said Chretien, who in addition to being a member of the Regional School Committee is also a member of the building committee.

Chretien said the same people who are demanding an audit now are the ones who never wanted the school building project in the first place. This group lost their battle when voters approved of the project in 1994, and they are trying to use the project's recent financial problems as a way to continue their political fight, he said.

Chretien said the opponents contend they don't understand the building committee's explanations for the shortfall, but in reality are feigning ignorance to prolong their fight.

Skeffington denied Chretien's characterization of the motive behind the new audit.

"It has nothing to do with politics," Skeffington said.

"I said at the last meeting that I was not looking for wrong doing ... that I was looking for answers as to why all the publicly allocated money ... amounting to more than $58 million dollars, had been spent, and why we as a School Committee should approve even more money without public approval," he said.

Greg Laramie, an architect who chairs the building committee, has said the project finds itself short of cash now as it is nearing completion for a number of reasons.

* As work began, demolition revealed structural problems that needed to be addressed in order to meet the building code.

* The building committee believed it had the right to spend interest that was earned on the bonds approved for the project, but learned too late the school district had budgeted the money, instead, for debt service.

Since this problem was discovered last winter, the building committee has been trying to save as much money as possible, and, in fact, has reduced its potential shortfall from $1.4 million to approximately $1 million, Laramie said.

Nevertheless, when all is said and done, the project will likely need an infusion of money, Laramie said. The exact amount needed won't be known until September, Laramie said.

Laramie said he is not concerned that an outside audit will reveal improper spending. If anything, it will show the taxpayers how careful and "efficient" the building committee has been, he said.

At Laramie's request, the School Committee on June 29 approved additional spending for the project at the same time it called for a construction audit. Specifically, it OK'd a capital lease for approximately $195,000 that will enable the building committee to pay for kitchen equipment needed to complete the renovation and expansion of Ponaganset High School.

But the vote on the capital lease was not unanimous and Skeffington was one of those opposed.

Copyright © Breeze Publications Inc.