The Gorham School Department is trying to determine what to do with an estimated $300,000 to $350,000 left over after construction was completed four years ago on the $22 million Gorham Middle School.

The balance was uncovered recently in a routine state audit of the project. The Gorham School Committee was expected to discuss the leftover money Wednesday night, after the American Journal deadline.

School Committee Chairman Jim Hager, who noted the money in his report to the Gorham Town Council last week, declined to disclose how much money was in the account prior to the school committee meeting this week.

Gorham Town Manager David Cole said Monday he believed there was between $300,000 and $350,000 in a school department account.

Cole said it isn’t unusual to have money left over at the end of a construction project. He said leftover money is sometimes used to cover problems that surface after a project is built. Cole said there was money left over after the high school renovation in the 1990s.

Gorham voters approved the middle school in a referendum in 2001. With interest over 20 years, the middle school cost $38 million, with Gorham’s share at $15.8 million.

It’s unclear, however, how much of the leftover money Gorham would be able to spend. Scott Brown, school construction specialist for the Maine Department of Education, said Tuesday there are rules governing unspent proceeds. He declined to comment on the leftover Gorham money, referring questions to the Gorham School Department.

Hager said it hasn’t been determined how and where Gorham could spend the leftover cash.

Cole said some interest generated by the account could be due the state. Cole also said spending the leftover money would likely require state approval. But, if Gorham wanted to re-allocate any of the leftover money to projects other than at the middle school, it would require town council approval, according to Cole.

As an example of a potential need, a Gorham school planning group looking at building a new White Rock School is running short of cash. In his report to the town council last week, Hager said the $100,000 advance the council approved to get the project off the ground is nearly depleted and the committee hasn’t found a site yet.

Last week, the town council approved spending $10,000 from a recreational impact fee account to design and develop bid specifications for a multi-purpose field at the middle school.

Cole said three athletic fields were approved by the state when the new middle school was built. But the original site plans called for tennis courts, and three additional fields that haven’t been built.

Some Gorham residents favor spending the leftover cash to build new athletic fields.

“We don’t have enough quality fields,” said a parent, Mark St. Germain, who was at a middle school field Tuesday evening. “Put the fields in.”

St. Germain cited a need for more fields and the existing ones are overused. “We have a real field issue in Gorham,” St. Germain said.

“If they’re going to build more fields, it looks like there’s room here,” said another parent, Marc Belhumeur, as he watched his daughter play soccer on a middle school field Tuesday.

A high school junior, Nicole Belhumeur, said the middle school had room for more fields.

“Gorham needs more fields, especially for the smaller kids,” she said.

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