Austin ‘Decommissions’ New City Website … $3 Million Later

[Elderberry]

Trxas Scorecard by Adam Cahn February 11, 2021

The city council can’t seem to stop wasting citizens’ money.



Beleaguered Austin taxpayers just received an expensive lesson in the folly of trying to “fix” that which isn’t broken.

According to a flabbergasting—though unsurprising—report from Austin’s KXAN station, the city recently “decommissioned” a new website after years of work and spending more than $3 million on its development. A similar project in Houston, by contrast, cost one-tenth that amount.

Of the $3 million, the largest line item was more than $2 million and vaguely defined as “training and consulting.” As Frank Sinatra would say, “Nice work if you can get it.”

This is not the first time the City of Austin’s information technology practices have raised serious questions. A Russian hack of the city last year left Texans statewide vulnerable, due to systems the state shares with Austin. This time, the “only” victim appears to have been taxpayers’ wallets.

More: https://texasscorecard.com/local/austin-decommissions-new-city-website-3-million-later/