When most people know they’re running a little short on money, they tend to be more careful with it – buy less expensive things and cut out anything they don’t absolutely need. So why does this simple idea seem so difficult for our government to grasp?
Everywhere we turn we see the government wasting money in a time of economic crisis, and now we have one more glowing example of waste in our Sunshine State in the form of a $48 million courthouse.
The courthouse being built in Tallahassee has been dubbed by many as the “Taj Mahal” courthouse because of its lavish furnishings. The judges of the 1st District Court of Appeals took control of the project and scoped out designs for their blinged-out playpen by going on visits to courthouses around the country equaling about $15,200 in expenses. The Florida Department of Financial Services’ audit of the courthouse expressed concern that some of the travel may have been funded by taxpayers.
The weirdest thing about all of this, other than the approximately 20 miles of African mahogany wood purchased for the project, is the money was originally appropriated to expand the court’s existing building. Instead, the judges used the money to pay architects to plan out a new building.
I know judges are supposed to interpret legislation, but I don’t think this is what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
Even when the building of a new courthouse was approved, the judges took it upon themselves to make the project far more expensive than their budget allowed by adding lavish furnishings including etched glass, custom fixtures and a granite trim throughout the building. The judges’ extras not only increased the size of the building by 20,000 square feet, but they also increased the cost of the building by about $15 million to make the grand total more than $48 million.
In the state-conducted audit, officials found 17 violations during the building of the courthouse. One of the state laws that was violated was the lack of seeking competitive bids to drive down the price, something that is required for construction of any buildings whose costs exceed $500,000. The building also violated state laws that only permit spending of $100,000 on artwork for new buildings.
It’s not just the judges who are to blame, though, as many top-level government officials did nothing to stop the project.
In fact, e-mails between the judges labeled former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio as among their “heroes” of the project. Gov. Charlie Crist was the one who signed the appropriations, which were strangely hidden deep in a transportation bill, and never called them into question.
Wasting money like this in times of deep financial crisis is a stain upon our state — a stain we do not need with our low-ranked education system and high unemployment rate.
But it’s nothing new for a state that is close to electing a corrupt former CEO as its governor.
Chris Dodson is a first-year finance and journalism student. His column appears every Monday.
