A secret audit, released by a Wayne County judge Friday, is shining some light on the scandalous jail project in downtown Detroit that was halted in mid-construction because of serious cost overruns.
John Wisely of the Detroit Free Press writes that the reports says:
Wayne County officials knew in 2011 that a proposed new jail was projected to be at least $41 million over budget but never told county commissioners or members of the Wayne County Building Authority, which was supposed to be overseeing the project.
The failure to disclose the projected overruns was one of the items uncovered by county auditors in 2013 and turned over to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. It appears in a long-sealed draft report of an audit released Friday after more than a year of litigation by the Detroit Free Press to force its release.
“We believe responsible officials had a fiduciary responsibility to notify the approving body that the construction cost estimates for the jail project would exceed the budget amount by $41 million,” then-auditor general Willie Mayo wrote in the August 2013 report. “We believe the failure to notify ... was poor judgment and derelict.”
