New Kendale cost overruns to exceed 50 percent

BoE member Sharon Cox's estimate about inflating costs of the Kendale replacement school barely begins to tell the story of cost overruns, waste and possible corruption - even before the scheduled ground breaking begins.

Earlier this year, Seven Locks PTA members worked with local contractors to get a realistic assessment, based on MCPS plans, of what construction of the Kendale school should really cost.

The contractors came back with estimates about 30 percent lower than the county estimates.

Now, with Cox estimating that the cost could be as much as 20 percent more than the county's earlier estimates, we find that the Kendale cost overruns are at least 50 percent higher than they should be.

And the county has barely begun to clear the towering maples and oaks from the forested excavation site.