The charity behind the costly legal challenge to prevent the new Madras College being built on green belt land is almost £28,000 in the red.
Accounts for St Andrews Environmental Protection Association Limited (Stepal) show the black hole, which the company insists will be bridged this year.
It took its fight against the decision to locate the new school at Pipeland to the Court of Session, resulting in the quashing of planning consent for the site.
Fife Council now hopes to construct the long-awaited £50 million school at Langlands, as part of the St Andrews West expansion.
Stepal reported a deficit of £27,796 in its report and financial statements for the year to June 2016.
Almost £51,000 was spent on legal and professional fees during the year.
Some £19,000 was owed in interest free unsecured loans and the document stated the charity received loans totalling £11,500 from two of the directors during the year.
However, directors said they expected the deficit to be reversed before the end of June by supporters’ donations, gift aid and the court decreed refund of legal fees.
Fife Council was ordered by the Court of Session to pay Stepal’s costs in the action.
Stepal was formed by directors and Mary Jack, Sandra Thomson and Lindsay Matheson, former teachers and rector of Madras College, in 2014 and was awarded charitable status in November 2015.
Its first focus was to challenge the selection of the Pipeland site, next to St Andrews Community Hospital.
However, its objectives include promoting the preservation of buildings or sites of importance in St Andrews and north-east Fife and it has taken up several other causes since and during the Pipeland battle.
It has lodged objections to several planning applications and taken part in the Scottish Government’s consultation on the future of planning.
Stepal declined to comment on its accounts but insisted it had been “very active over the last six months”.
An 18-acre site at Langlands was confirmed in February as Fife Council’s preferred spot for the school and consultation is being conducted with the public at a series of public meetings and drop-in sessions.
