High school football is costing you big bucks. Taxpayers in Judson hit the roof when they found out recently the Judson High School Stadium went $4 million over budget, coming in at $14 million.
But now another local school district's stadium is nearly $2 million over budget. News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister uncovered the big bill being handed to taxpayers.
South San ISD is one of the poorest districts in San Antonio. So why are taxpayers paying out the nose for this new football stadium?
When the South San Bobcats football team takes the field this fall, it will be in some pricey new digs; brand new turf, a new field house and more.
It's all part of a more than $9.5 million bond package South San voters approved. But district records show it's costing way more than voters were told.
Right now, the project is $1.7 million over budget.
"I'm not against athletics, I'm all for it." Mary Mabry's son played football at South San. She also graduated from here.
"To be $1.7 million over budget is crazy," says Mabry. "If you were building a house you would never go that much. You have a budget you need to learn to live within your budget."
So how'd they spend too much taxpayer money? It starts with South San's plan to tear down the nasty, rundown field house.
Voters were told the new one would cost $2 million, but South San decided to double it in size -- to house all of the athletic teams. That also doubled the cost to almost $4 million. It includes a $350,000 weight room.
"It's infuriating. Because that's an awful lot of money." New board member Karen Tomlinson thinks South San has long had issues deciding what is a priority for their children.
"Whether that is artificial turf over there or not is not going to make a hill of beans of difference when they go off to college, or a job or the military," says Tomlinson. "What is going to make a difference is whether they have the classrooms they need, the computers, the teachers they need."
Some of the biggest cost overruns include the artificial turf, the track and the drainage.
"The lowest bid we could possible get was $1.6 (million) just for the track and field alone, that was actually the lowest of the three bids we put out," says district spokesman Ed Suarez.
That project went $650,000 over budget.
Some parts of the bond project have come in under budget, keeping the deficit to $1.7 million, but they hope the cost will come down even more on future bids.
"We're telling you right now we're running a deficit. We expect it to be much smaller, but we are running a deficit and that is the reality of the situation," adds Suarez. "On the other hand, we were good financial stewards in 2005. We saved $5.5 million dollars. We have that as an insurance policy in case we do have overruns. And kudos to us for being able to do that."
We won't know the final cost of the stadium complex until it is finished in another year. When it's done, the News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters will be back to let you know the sticker shock.
