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and $1.6 million in grant funds expected to be received from the State. The March 12, 2018 bond resolution included an estimated maximum cost for the project that was $1.5 million less than the January 18, 2018 bond resolution’s estimated maximum cost of $14.9 million. The Board minutes for the March 2018 meeting included the reports received from Town officials requested by the previously discussed February 26, 2018 resolution. The report from the Town Attorney stated that the original bond resolution was adopted before the final design and the project was publicly bid. The report also indicated that $3.1 million of the $5.1 million proposed serial bond funding on January 18, 2018 was to serve as money to be used to address cash flow issues while waiting for grant reimbursement, and not the actual cost of the project. If the Board intended to use $3.1 million for cash flow purposes, it was not transparent to taxpayers because the increase in estimated cost to $14.9 million made it appear to be necessary to complete the project. Figure 2: Project Estimates vs. Final Cost FIGURE 2 Project Estimates vs. Final Cost $14.9 million $13.4 million $13.4 million $13.5 million $9.8 million March 2016 January 2017 Post- January 2018 March 2018 Final Cost Estimate Bid Estimate Estimate Estimate The Town Attorney’s report also stated that the $3.1 million intended for cash flow purposes was no longer needed because certain grants had been received, which the Town’s consultants were unaware of. Therefore, the estimate of required cash was overstated. We found that as of March 12, 2018, the energy performance contract funding and one grant totaling $1.9 million were received and/or available as of February 2016. Further, the Town Attorney’s report specified that the $14.9 million in estimated cost was overstated by $1.4 million as costs related to the energy performance contract funding was included twice after a miscommunication between the engineer and bond counsel. The Supervisor and the engineer were jointly responsible for preparing reports used by the Board to monitor the project and 6 Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller