DeKalb schools report $40 million surplus in construction funds

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Despite allegations of illegal construction deals, DeKalb County schools have a surplus of almost $40 million in construction funds.

The savings is the result of decreased construction costs and better planning on how to allocate the school district’s $513 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds, school officials announced Friday.

The board is now determining how to utilize that extra money. Suggestions include expanding the Coralwood Diagnostic Center, which serves special needs children, roof replacements, more parking and additions to replace trailers. The $40 million may only be used for capital improvements.

The SPLOST program, which runs from 2007-2012, is expected to raise $513.4 million. So far, the district has contracts for about $463 million in projects, said Barbara Colman, the district’s interim capital improvement program operations officer.

That money was supposed to cover 559 projects, including new schools, additions and upgrades. All of those projects are either underway or have been completed, Colman said.

“We forecast $513 million because the construction costs were high in 2007. Then the market crashed and we started getting better prices,” she said.

Contracts that went for $10 million are now getting bid at $7.5 million, Colman said.

The school board appointed Colman last October to lead the construction program after former chief operating officer Patricia Reid.

Reid, former superintendent Crawford Lewis, Reid's former husband Tony Pope and her secretary Cointa Moody were indicted in May on charges they ran a criminal enterprise at the school system.

Prosecutors say Reid steered multimillion-dollar school construction projects to her then-husband’s architecture firm and select vendors. In exchange, Reid, Lewis and Moody received cash, sports tickets or other perks, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege the defendants funneled more than $80 million in contracts to associates through some type of fraud. Pope directly received more than $2 million of that money, prosecutors said.

“Barbara Colman was brought in to make sure our construction projects stayed on track and under budget whenever possible,” board chairman Tom Bowen said. “As a result of her managing this process, we’re going to benefit to the tune of $40 million that will be available for different projects.”

Board member H. Paul Womack praised Colman for rebidding a project at Lakeside High School, which came in over budget. It is now under budget.

The district listed $1.9 billion in facilities’ needs when it approved the 2007 SPLOST. The district is now conducting a new "needs assessment" of all schools as part of redistricting and consolidation.

That list will also be used for a new SPLOST, which the district plans to have on a countywide referendum in May 2012, Colman said.

The school board also has the option to use $58 million in interest-free federal stimulus bonds. The board must decide by Oct. 4 to accept this money, said chief financial officer Marcus Turk.

However, some board members are reluctant to approve the bonds.

“The ultimate person who will pay for these funds is the taxpayer,” board member Don McChesney said. “I know we’re all in a situation that when everybody dangles money in front of us, we just grab it. But we need to make it clear to the taxpayer that this is money they will have to pay back.”