OAKLAND — The Garrett County commissioners unanimously approved the board of education’s 2015 Capital Improvement Program during their public meeting Tuesday and gave the board the green light to go ahead with the design phase of the Southern Middle School renovation project, according to Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator.

The $582,400 design funding for the project is included in the county’s fiscal 2014 budget.

“All projects on the CIP will be reviewed and approved as part of the fiscal year budget approval process,” said Pagenhardt.

Last year the commissioners voted to defer the funding of the project for a year and voiced concerns about being able to fund the project without a tax increase. There weren’t any changes to the county’s budget, ac-cording to Pagenhardt.

The project construction date for the renovation is still under consideration and has not been approved yet.

“At this time the county is not certain what actual revenue projections will be for forthcoming budget years although our financial model shows an improvement in expected revenue in the next several years,” said Pagenhardt.

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