In an Oct. 18 letter Brian Simpson makes the accusation, “Poor oversight of school reconstruction projects from the Permanent Municipal Buildings Committee, which is run by Republican leadership, has cost a great deal of taxpayer money in cost overruns.”

The PMBC contains several Democratic members, one of whom Mr. Simpson boasts “consistently speak[s] up”. If this project was truly “overrun,” why haven’t any Democratic officials brought this to the Town Council, who would have to authorize additional expenditures?

While some individual line items may have been overspent, the actual project costs for the Ledyard Middle School were $500k less than the preconstruction estimate, and the Gallup Hill School was $250k less, saving nearly $1 million dollars.

We need to thank the Ledyard Republican leadership!

Finally, the creation of a PMBC, versus the previous use of different ad hoc committees for each project, was the brainchild of Republican Council Chair Linda Davis. This innovation by the Ledyard Republicans has provided consistency in the management of numerous projects and resulted in significant savings and value to Ledyard taxpayers!

Roger Codding

Gales Ferry