Finance director flags $520,000 in change orders on high-school fields; board asks for contingency log

Miss Pettit, the district finance lead, told the Cherokee County School Board on Feb. 9 that tax collections totaled $56,000,000 and that January alone accounted for $17,000,000 in collections. She said operating expenses through January were about $8,780,000 and that the net change in the general fund balance was negative $3,700,000 after transfers, with an $8,000,000 transfer to other funds noted as part of that movement.

Pettit also updated trustees on the construction project for Gaffney and Blacksburg high-school athletic fields and facilities. She reported architect and design fees of $948,000 and engineering at $49,000 and said a $520,000 total of change orders increased costs above the original GMP. Pettit stated both a $10,250,000 figure and a $11,250,000 figure during her presentation and said the original total budget was about $10,700,000; trustees pressed for clarity on why costs exceeded the GMP and said they had first seen some of the work reported in local news rather than via board channels. "There are several ways we can go over budget with a construction manager," Pettit said, noting architect omissions and owner-requested scope changes as common causes and offering to provide the contingency log and change-order detail to the board.

Trustees requested that Pettit obtain the contingency log from Thompson Turner and indicate which approved lines were owner requests versus architect omissions. The board did not take further action at the meeting and Pettit said she would send the requested documentation to trustees.