Barely used courthouse makes top-10 waste list

“A project that went $115 million over budget, a $60 million courthouse that sits unused, and a spending scandal that prompted the resignation of the University of California at Davis chancellor are among the Top 10 Examples of Government Waste in 2016 released today by the California Taxpayers Association” read the announcement last week.

That courthouse CalTax mentioned happens to be the south Santa Clara County Courthouse in Morgan Hill that opened in 2009 and which Mercury News reporter Tracey

Kaplan reported cost more than $60 million to build but now sits mostly unused, dunning taxpayers $33,000 per month in operating costs. It was No. 2 on CalTax’s list.

“With billions of dollars in tax increases on the state and local ballots in November, it is a good time to review how our government agencies are spending the tax dollars they already receive,” CalTax President

Teresa Casazza said in a news release. “Auditors, reporters and whistleblowers uncovered an inexcusable amount of government waste this year, at every level of government.”

The $115 million over-budget project was for the construction of a veterans home in West Los Angeles. A state audit found that a division of the California’s Department of General Services spent that amount over its initial estimate of $118 million. The former Davis chancellor was Linda Katehi, who allowed $175,000 to be spent polishing the university’s online image after photos of a UC Davis cop pepper-spraying seated student protesters went viral. She also got rapped over $17,000 to send the chancellor’s aides to Switzerland for social media training and more than $174,000 spent for her own international travels.