Mt. Lebanon School Board questioned on project accounting
Mt. Lebanon resident Bill Matthews pressed the school board on the accounting for certain costs related to its high school renovation project at the Oct. 20 board meeting. He questioned whether certain items funded as capital projects should be included as part of an all-in total for the project.
“My question is what constitutes an all-in project cost, and what number we are working off,” Matthews said.
School board president Elaine Cappucci replied that perhaps his question boiled down to an “accounting issue.”
“The fact is that some of these items, such as new cafeteria tables and a new PA system, would have been installed regardless of the high school project,” Cappucci said. “But personally I have no problem including those items as part of the total project cost.”
Matthews pressed the board specifically on one item on the district’s long-term facilities project list: the installation of artificial turf on a high school field known as the “rock pile,” at an estimated cost of about $800,000. “Should we be adding that $800,000 to our $109 million (project budget)?” he asked.
“I can’t tell you that,” Cappucci replied. She said since that item is not up for consideration before 2018, a subsequent school board will make the decision. “If an item is included in the long-term facilities plan it is a ‘maybe,'” she said.
The municipality is currently set to install artificial turf at its own two main fields. The plan has triggered a backslash from some residents, who question both the cost and safety of artificial turf.