New Pender Co. schools over budget after rebidding, tensions high over transparency

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Pender County commissioners are frustrated with the most recent update on the $75 million bond projects.

The most recent bids show the new Surf City Elementary School and Penderlea are over budget after re-bidding and re-designing both projects.

Commissioners received a packet right before the meeting with new numbers. The data shows Surf City is about $4.5 million over and Penderlea is about $5.3 million over.

Commission Chairman George Brown said they are frustrated about the fact that it is over budget and that they are just now finding out these numbers. Brown said they have requested information over and over again. He said there has not been transparency.

“We felt that it could have been not only delivered, but in a more timely fashion,” Brown said. “Taxpayers and parents are the ones that deserve better treatment from their stewards of their money than this.”

The school board said contractors are working on a re-design for Penderlea that puts the gym and cafeteria as an alternate. The question had to be asked multiple times by multiple people before the commissioners got a straight answer. Commissioner George Brown said that is not fair to the parents, students, or taxpayers.

“There are quite a few of the commissioners including myself that feel that this is not a complete project without the gym and cafeteria,” Brown said. “These folks were promised that. They were given that with the expectation when they voted on this bond they were going to get a school with a gym and a cafeteria and I am a little resentful that we are having to have this discussion.”

The school board told commissioners they are confident a third round of bidding for Penderlea will get the cost down. It still puts the gym and cafeteria as an alternate. The school board said they have re-designed the project to use less expensive materials. David Williams said that is also concerning, because he does not understand why the project was not initially designed to be as inexpensive and efficient as possible.

The school board said the next round of bids will come back on Oct. 7. The school board will then have a meeting on Oct. 10. Brown told the school board commissioners expect a full cost packet for each school including the costs of the cafeteria and gym the morning of Oct. 11.

The county attorney told commissioners they have until Oct. 12 to sell the bonds out to stay on schedule. If they do not sell them, they risk pushing the project back months, because they will have to wait until after the next audit.

The commission plans to vote on the sale of the bonds at their regular scheduled meeting on Monday, Oct. 3.

We asked the superintendent and school board members for a comment. They refused. Superintendent Terri Cobb said she was not prepared to make a comment.