Excerpt:
Council members have said they want a detailed list of the expenses and have hinted they could delay any future consideration of a bond until the annual budget talks. They want answers to other questions too, questions like, why didn’t the city know about the asbestos in the walls before they had to pay $2.5 million to deal with it?

McGrane had hoped to deal with those questions later. She says the most pressing issue is the bond. If the council never approves it, the city could use its general fund to pay the extra costs. That would nearly wipe it out, McGrane said, leaving Newburgh vulnerable to any emergency expenses.

She had argued there was plenty of time to talk about things like asbestos later but said Saturday that she now sees a new bond has little chance until all of the council’s questions have been answered. That means going through the financing to explain how a $12.2 million project became an $18.6 million one.