By Manny Grossman

At the Nov. 29 Croton Filtration Monitoring Committee meeting, Father Richard Gorman, chairman of Community Board 12, proposed a resolution joining the call for an investigation into the cost of the filtration plant.

He later withdrew the request because, according to Anne Marie Garti of the Jerome Park Conservancy, the city Department of Environmental Protection asked the committee not to act until Commissioner Emily Lloyd has a chance to address the group.

Until now, only Steve Lawitts, the DEP's first deputy commissioner, has attempted to explain the cost overruns.

At an October monitoring committee meeting devoted mainly to that issue, Mr. Lawitts said that the increase from $1.2 billion to $2.8 billion was due to skyrocketing prices for construction materials, rising labor costs and a vastly more competitive construction market than was present in 2003, when the $1.2 billion estimate was made public.

Ms. Lloyd repeated the claims at Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Oct. 30 town hall event at PS 24.

However, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who is leading the charge for an independent investigation into cost overruns, said, "What is she so afraid of?"

"If I was the commissioner," he said, "I would want this investigation because the public has a right to know."

Ms. Lloyd will attend a special monitoring committee meeting on Monday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m., at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 DeKalb Ave., off Gun Hill Road.

At that time, Ms. Garti said, "We will find out if Commissioner Lloyd has anything new to report, and whether the monitoring committee has the independence to pass a resolution against the DEP's wishes."