Everything you need to know about Austin's incessant cost overruns

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

Ouch:

Austin officials initially priced the Shoal Creek storm drain improvement project at about $1 million. But when the final bill was paid, the project actually cost Austin taxpayers about $7 million.

The renovations to City Hall and the City Council Chambers to make room for the larger, 11-member council that took office in 2015 was originally priced at $1.4 million. The costs soared to $6.4 million.

Those two projects were just a few in an audit of Austin’s Public Works Department released last week that found almost one-third — 29 percent — of the 48 projects it reviewed had costs balloon at least 50 percent higher than the staff’s original estimates.

Read the whole thing here.