The chief judges of Michigan’s two federal courts have accused the U.S. General Services Administration of wasting more than $1 million in taxpayer money in various court building projects, the Detroit News reports. The judges maintain that many of GSA’s building projects are over budget, years behind schedule, and poorly completed. “It’s totally outrageous,” said Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in Detroit. “There’s no accountability and no incentive to spend the taxpayers’ money wisely.”
Friedman and Chief Judge Robert Holmes Bell of the federal court in Grand Rapids, point to a litany of expensive mistakes and project delays, including: A federal bankruptcy courtroom built with an inadequately positioned witness box; A federal detention center in Detroit that is $300,000 over budget; Renovations to a Grand Rapids courtroom that are $200,000 over budget; one court is paying rent on space it can’t use and is forced to pay extra to hold functions elsewhere. “There is no oversight,” Bell said. “It’s just obscene what these projects end up costing and how much money is wasted.”
Link: http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0412/27/A01-42828.htm