Finance report: $56M in tax collections; construction projects exceed original GMP by reported change orders

Miss Pettit, the district's finance support, told trustees the district had collected $56,000,000 in tax revenue (revising the earlier figure of $38M) and that $17,000,000 of that came in January. She said operating expenses through Jan. 31 amounted to roughly $8,780,000 and that the net change in fund balance was negative $3,700,000 after an $8,000,000 transfer to capital projects.

On construction costs, Pettit reported that final numbers for the Rawfields projects came in at $10,250,000 (with line items for Gaffney and Blacksburg) and later summarized a total project cost figure of $11,250,000. Pettit said there was a $520,000 total change‑order approval on the construction side prior to her arrival. Board members pushed for transparency on who approved change orders and asked Pettit to provide the project contingency log and a breakdown indicating whether overruns were architect omissions or owner requests.

"We actually have collected, 56,000,000 from tax collections... There was 17,000,000 in January collected from tax collections and distributed from the county," Miss Pettit said, calling attention to the updated revenue figures. Trustee Mister Wilkins asked how the district exceeded the GMP, saying, "If we approved the GMP...how could we go over?" Pettit said change orders can arise from architect omissions or owner-requested additions and offered to supply the contingency log for both Gaffney and Blacksburg projects for board review.