Selling the Scotland School for Veterans' Children could save the state an estimated $2 million each year in maintenance costs, in addition to revenue generated from selling the property, state officials testified Monday.

At a hearing about Pennsylvania’s 2009 Real Property Disposition Plan, Joanne Phillips, director of the Department of General Service’s Bureau of Real Estate, said the department has tentatively set the sale price of the approximately 185-acre property and its 70 buildings at $5 million.

Phillips said the price is only based on a recent county assessment, not a real-estate appraisal.

Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester, added that county assessments are normally low, so he thought the eventual sale price would be higher than $5 million.

Higher or lower, the sale is far from certain, according to Senate State Government Committee Chairman Charles McIlhinney Jr., R-Bucks.

“I think there is a lot more to be done and discussed through the budget,” said McIlhinney, about the proposed Scotland School sale. “I think a lot more of the senators will want to have input in that whole process.”

“The commonwealth has an obligation to submit this plan, we have an obligation as the Senate State Government Committee to hold a hearing within 30 days of that – we’ve now met – and I just want to say for the record that this should not be taken as a tacit approval of the Scotland School situation,” said McIlhinney.

He concluded the hearing by telling Phillips that the committee would “in the near future” respond to the department with the committee’s “official reply and positions” regarding the property disposition plan.

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