State Investigation Ongoing for School District's Solar Panel Project

The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller is still i spokesperson Pete McAleer said. The investigation may take another few months.

The state picked up documents from the Lacey Township School District for the  on Monday, Oct. 17.

“We provided them with everything that they asked for and even more,” Board of Education President Jack Martenak previously said. “We gave them some stuff we didn’t have to provide them but we gave them anyway.”

The Lacey Township School District has been served a subpoena in regards to the solar panel project by the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller.

The subpoena, served on the district Sept. 23, requests all documents related to the solar panel project, former Superintendent Richard Starodub said in October.

The subpoena is administrative in nature and does not focus on anything in particular but looks at the project in its entirety, Starodub said.

According to the state’s website, the Office of the State Comptroller audits government finances, examines efficiency of government programs, scrutinizes government contracts and investigates and uncovers government misconduct, waste and abuse.

“Our policy is we don’t comment on pending investigations,” spokesperson Pete McAleer said.

Generally, an investigation takes six to nine months, he said. It has been nearly eight months. Additional information will be made available to the public once the investigation is completed.

The documents requested by the state include files that have been in question by various community members over the past year, Starodub said.

The district credits the project in saving approximately 35 percent in electricity costs and generating $1.1 million in Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECS), accomplishments that helped lead to a zero percent tax increase in the proposed budget.

But in March,  for bonding $19,806,000 for an $11,540,000 project. 

The school district bonded for more than $19 million due to an estimate determined by architects Di Cara and Rubino. The number was approved by the state Office of Facilities, Business Administrator James Savage previously said.

The bid, which was accepted nearly a year after bonding, was around $12 million so that left the school district with more than $7 million remaining.

The school district is paying 3 percent interest on the bond, and the debt service aid pays 40 percent of the bill every year, Martenak previously said.

This bond cannot be paid back early and has limits according to certain years, Martenak said. The bond will be callable (the school district could pay back early) in 10 years. The principal cannot be paid down until 10 years as well, Martenak said.

The school district returned $2,230,000 during the 2010-11 school year and will return $3,280,000 for the 2011-12 school year. The district might split the remaining money up over the following two years, Savage said.

The district is expected to generate $3.2 million from SRECs, which are certificates traded in the online market, Di Cara previously said. They are projected to generate $1 million every year for three years.