Mayor L. Douglas Wilder's administration is freezing more than $1.4 million promised for school maintenance work, Richmond School Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman says.

And administration officials plan to recommend slicing $1.5 million from next year's schools maintenance budget, Jewell-Sherman said in a memo sent yesterday to School Board members, a copy of which was obtained by The Times-Dispatch.

"What is being done is the orderly transaction of business and authorized under the law," Wilder spokesman Linwood Norman said.

He would not elaborate.

Wilder and his top officials have been feuding for years with school officials over money.

The mayor says the school system wastes money. School officials say the mayor has been cutting funds they need to maintain their programs.

Jewell-Sherman's memo said the administration's chief capital projects manager, John Winter, has told the school system that the $1.4 million in school maintenance funds "will not be made available to [Richmond Public Schools] until 'acceptable' completion of all audits."

Winter declined to comment and referred questions to Norman.

Last month, Wilder demanded an independent investigation of school spending, saying he had lost faith in the city auditor.

Earlier in the year, Wilder said a city audit showing potential savings of $20 million a year in spending by the school system was too limited. His administration then contracted with a Washington accounting firm, at a cost of $200,000, to examine the schools.

City Auditor Umesh V. Dalal, meanwhile, agreed to a second audit of the schools, the results of which are due shortly.

In her memo, Jewell-Sherman said the Wilder administration's stance may keep the school system from paying for several projects until the summer or fall.

They include: