The Cape Elizabeth High School will have a renovated auditorium and library, following a Town Council decision to use money left over from the Pond Cove School construction for work at the high school.

Work on both areas was in limbo, on a list of possible additional alternatives due to lack of funding.

But, with newly available money the School Building Committee was able Tuesday to commit funds to replacing the ceiling and carpets in the library and installing new seating, floors and a ventilation system in the auditorium.

Those two projects were the largest on the “add-alternate” list and will cost an estimated $176,000.

The Town Council, along with members of the School Board and new Superintendent Alan Hawkins, toured the high school with Principal Jeffrey Shedd and were shown the items currently not funded but on the add-alternate list.

Ninety percent of the items on the add-alternate list were included in the original project, said Shedd.

The project is 70 percent complete and ahead of schedule, but many items that were originally included in the $7.9 million bond approved by voters in November 2003 had to be put on the add-alternate list after an architect’s cost estimate came in higher than expected, said Town Manager Mike McGovern. Those items included new seating and floors for the auditorium and the new carpet and ceiling in the library.

“Some people think these are add-ons or luxuries, but they’re the essentials,” said Town Councilor Paul McKenney, also a member of the School Building Committee.

The committee and School Department Business Manager Pauline Aportria calculated $205,000 was available to use for items that were on the add-alternate list. Those newly available funds included $130,000 leftover from the Pond Cove construction project, which the Town Council voted unanimously to transfer to the high school renovation at a Monday meeting following the tour.

An additional $30,000 was saved because the school department never hired a clerk-of-the-works; $20,000 was saved because the portable classrooms at the high school were being returned early and $25,000 would come from the renovation project’s contingency fund.

The committee allocated $199,500 of the newly available funds at their Tuesday evening meeting. The new seating, floors and a ventilation system in the auditorium will come at an estimated cost of $130,000 and the carpets and ceiling in the library will be replaced at a cost of $46,000.

A new railing for the senior parking lot and fencing for the back athletic field, which were not included in the original add-alternate list but became necessary during the course of the renovation, also received $22,000 in funding. An air conditioning unit for the second floor computer server room also had $1,500 committed to its purchase.

“I don’t feel constrained that any of these things are outside the scope of the project,” said Town Councilor and School Building Committee member Mary Ann Lynch. “I feel people are expecting a renovated high school.”

Members of the committee said Shedd and the school department could use the remaining $5,500 to cover some of the smaller items on the add-alternate list, such as the purchase of furniture and white boards. Also, more money exists in the contingency fund, which may become available as the project gets closer to completion. Aportria said there was originally $307,000 in the contingency fund and more than $200,000 of that has already been used or committed.

Also on Tuesday, it was learned that Cape Elizabeth taxpayers will save $1.6 million over the next 20 years because the interest rate for the second and final bonds for the Pond Cove construction project and the high school renovation project came in lower than the amount voters approved in November 2003. A $200,000 grant and $800,000 interest-free loan received last year through the state’s Revolving Renovation Loan Fund also contributed to the savings.

Cape Elizabeth High School Principal Jeffrey Shedd (right) leads members of the Town Council and School Board into the library at the high school, which will get a new ceiling and carpets thanks to newly available funds allocated by the School Building Committee.