Valparaiso school officials are justifying the $640,000 cost of the new artificial turf for Valparaiso High School's football field, saying the field will pay for itself in dramatically reduced maintenance costs over the next decade.

That doesn't sound bad -- until you realize the Valparaiso School Board didn't accept $588,000 in private donations last year for the same purpose.

Why spend taxpayer money when a group of 13 community members raised enough to cover the cost of the artificial turf?

That group included the high school varsity football coach, Mark Hoffman, along with parents of football players and residents involved in the Pop Warner football program.

The idea was to build a field that could stand up to unlimited use by school and Pop Warner teams, physical education classes, the marching band and other groups.

A field with real turf takes special care to maintain the grass. Annual maintenance of the old field ran about $50,000 to $70,000 a year for mowing, watering, fertilizing, striping, sod replacement and irrigation system repairs.

The new surface will require monthly leveling of the sand/rubber mix and occasional disinfecting -- an estimated $3,000 to $5,000 a year.

The School Board received the offer of the donated money in spring 2007, but it dragged its feet on the approval so long that the citizens group returned the donations it had collected. When the project was finally approved, the taxpayers were on the hook instead.

This is an example of how government sluggishness can end up costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Government must be made much more efficient -- not just in Lake County, but throughout the state.

Although Valparaiso School Board President James Bernard said the board didn't reject the offer, in fact the result of taking so long to make a decision was a rejection of the offer to pay for the field. The community group had promised donors it would return the money if the turf wasn't installed by fall 2007.

Bottom line: The board spurned private donations for artificial turf at VHS, then paid $640,000 in public dollars for that same purpose.

It was another dumb Valparaiso School Board decision.