By Kathleen Acuff

The city and the Los Altos School District will split the cost of installing and maintaining scoreboards and backboard winches in their joint-effort gyms on the Blach Intermediate and Egan Junior High school campuses.

Although Recreation Director Dave Brees recommended denying the district’s request for $17,144 to install the much-missed scoreboards, the council voted unanimously to provide the funds.

The city, which paid to build the gyms on property owned by the school district, manages the after-school programs held in the gyms and collects all fees for their use. The city pays 75 percent of the annual maintenance costs for the gyms, and the school district pays 25 percent.

City Manager Phil Rose advised the council not to allocate the money for the installation.

“We’re a city that couldn’t afford two gyms. They cost us $6 million in capital funds and $100,000 a year. In the past five years, we’ve spent $95,000 on our own buildings. We’re probably going to ask you to reduce the subsidy for youth programs because we can’t afford it. We can’t afford these buildings. We don’t have money for new things.”

Although Mayor Ron Packard said, “It’s not the $17,000. … We had a nest egg, and we spent it all on gyms,” the council voted unanimously to approve the allocation.