The County Council will take up once again tonight the school board's request for money to cover massive cost overruns in renovating seven media centers.
At its last meeting two weeks ago, the council grilled school officials about the $500,000 request -- money to supplement the $350,000 already set aside for the work in the 1995 fiscal budget.
The original budget request was based on outdated construction estimates, school officials told the council.
As a result, the average price of each renovation more than doubled, from $50,000 to $120,000.
Council members, dissatisfied with the information they were offered by the board's staff, requested a more precise breakdown of the cost.
The public hearing was suspended to give school board staff and residents the opportunity to offer additional testimony.
The council received a memo detailing the cost of each project last week, but Chairwoman Diane R. Evans said that was not enough to satisfy her.
Ms. Evans asked school officials to have the architectural drawings for each project available for council review before tonight's meeting.
The Severna Park Republican said she would have to take a look at the blueprints before deciding whether to vote for the additional money.
"I've obviously had a great deal of frustration about that particular bill because of the lack of information from the beginning and the tremendous cost overrun," Ms. Evans said.
Thomas Redmond, a Pasadena Democrat and one of the council members who criticized school officials at the last meeting, said he is unhappy with the answers he has received.
"I'm not against the media centers. I think they're something that need to be in the schools," Mr. Redmond said.
"But their approach to funding and the way they operate -- I have a real problem with the Board of Education," the councilman said.
"They're supposed to have some more information for us," he said. "At this point, I'm not [in favor of the $500,000 request], but we'll see what else they come up with."
In other action, the council is scheduled to vote on a second Board of Education fund transfer, also held over from the last meeting, to provide an additional $1.2 million for school maintenance projects such as roof replacement; modifications for handicap access; and installation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
School officials cited unrealistic estimates and a market that favors builders as reasons for needing the money, which is in addition to the $1.7 million the council approved in the current budget.
The council also will hold a public hearing on a bill that would raise the pay for county workers not represented by a union who temporarily are required to do work in a higher pay grade.
Union employees already have contract provisions that provide them with more money when they transfer temporarily into a higher-paid position.
At a briefing last week, several council members expressed concerns about the potential cost of the legislation, which budget officials acknowledged they could not estimate because there was no way of predicting how often the transfers would occur.
The council also will hear from the public on resolutions appointing members to the Pension Oversight Commission and the Ethics Commission.
The meeting is to be held in the council chambers at the Arundel Center in Annapolis. The starting time is slated for 7:30 p.m.