City Council Finance Chairman Herb Berman vowed yesterday to hold hearings to get to the bottom of the eye-popping cost overruns on school construction projects.
Berman, who’s running for city comptroller against former Board of Education president Bill Thompson, announced his plans after The Post revealed that Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Pataki both had launched probes to find out what’s behind the bloated costs.
In the first two years of its $7 billion, five-year capital plan, the board is already running 20 percent over budget.
“There are some questions that I think are begging to be answered,” Berman said, adding he wants to review who knew about the overruns, and when they knew it.
“It really is a disgraceful situation.”
The board prepares the capital plan, but the School Construction Authority – which the mayor, governor and schools chancellor have seats on and which is headed by a Giuliani appointee – manages the actual construction.
A spokeswoman for Thompson, who stepped down from his post in April, said he “supports the independent audit [that City Hall has commissioned] and he thinks it should be made public.”
Pataki’s special commission on schools is also investigating.
Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields said her office discovered that about $1.6 million has been allocated for school projects in Manhattan that haven’t even begun yet.
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer pointed a finger back at Pataki and Giuliani, who’ve both been critical of the seven-member board.