A state office building or the Taj Mahal?

That’s the question many across Mississippi may have foundthemselves asking last week when it was reported that the directorand commissioners of the state Department of Transportation haveall but decided to go forward with a makeover of their own officesthat could cost state taxpayers up to $2.5 million.

At a time when other state agencies are cutting back andlawmakers and the governor battle for every penny spent, threeelected officials and their appointed agency head have chosen toredecorate.

Why?

“It needs to look like a headquarters,” Southern DistrictCommissioner Wayne Brown told a Jackson newspaper.

Correct us if we’re wrong, but the department’s downtown Jacksonbuilding – built in 1992 and fairly new by comparison – looks likea headquarters.

If by looking “like a headquarters,” Brown, Northern DistrictCommissioner Bill Minor and MDOT Executive Director Butch Brownmean they must work in fancy digs, we hate to burst theirbubble.

Of the department’s inner circle, only Central DistrictCommissioner Dick Hall has criticized the renovation project,calling plans “exorbitant” and reminding his colleagues thatMississippi taxpayers – for whom they all work – “are notinterested in doing this.”

Any why should they be interested? It’s the commissioners’ anddirector’s own offices that would get a face lift, not areas of theheadquarters generally accessible to the public.

To be fair, Minor said some of the money would be spent onexpanding the commission’s meeting room, which with 42 seatssometimes is not large enough for adequate seating. This may be avalid project, but have the trio considered any and all possible(or cheaper) alternatives?

In assessing whether to move forward with renovations plans,these elected and appointed officials at MDOT must take a moment toget their priorities in check. Mississippi voters care aboutbridges, roadways and the like, not whether their transportationcommissioners can spend their days in the lap of luxury.

While $2.5 million may be but a drop in Mississippi’s budgetbucket, the principle is what matters here. Bloated spending torenovate their building will reflect poorly on MDOT’s leadershipand rightly call into question other decisions they make.