#TBT: When the last Travis County Courthouse went over budget

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

From an Austin Chronicle article about the 2002 Travis County Commissioner's Court races:

You might think that running for re-election to the Travis County Commissioners Court is harder than it really is. During the last four years, on the PR front, the courthouse has been an ugly place -- at least by the conventional aesthetic and moral standards we apply to politics. Would you want to be an incumbent explaining to constituents why Travis Co. taxes, which just went up again, are among the highest in the state? Why the new Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center was $23 million over budget? Why the county now has to pay $2.3 million to the Blackwell-Thurman contractor? Why the Travis Co. Jail was out of compliance with state standards for a decade?

[Author's Note: Emphasis added.]

Read the whole thing here.