The indirect costs of public boondoggles
When public officials assure us that no public money will be expended on various boondoggles, we generally are skeptical. Sometimes, the language simply changes over time and the pol hopes nobody really notices (or tries to intimidate those who do notice with "dry riposte"). And sometimes, the indirect costs of the boondoggle really start to add up down the road, long after the political debate is over.
The latter phenomenon is described in this KHOU-11 report by Jason Whitely:
The copper-colored building on the edge of Houston’s skyline has been a long time coming.
“Our guys have been in a temporary facility for about seven or eight years now,” HFD Assistant Chief Jack Williams said.
The building is Fire Station 8 – Houston’s only station downtown.
The city used to have two, but it sold the first in 2001. That became the Downtown Aquarium.
Then the city moved another so the Toyota Center could be built.
So for the last five years, downtown firefighters have lived on leased land, which costs the city $23,000 a month.
Getting the firefighters their new super station has been a challenge.
It was supposed to cost $6 million, but the price tag has soared to $1.5 million more than the city expected.
Not to worry -- it's just taxpayers picking up the indirect costs of supplying moneymaking playpens for Tilman Fertitta and Les Alexander.
It's probably worth keeping these sorts of indirect costs in mind, though, when pols assure that taxpayers shouldn't worry about the latest, greatest public boondoggle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/27/08 11:00 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (3)
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