Audit: W.Va. Agency Spend $3.5 Million on Abandoned Project

A new report says the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services spent about $3.5 million to renovate a juvenile facility and then abandoned the project with the work uncompleted.

The Legislative Auditor’s Office says in a report released Monday that the agency’s reasons for stopping the project were foreseeable when it began. The office recommends that the agency develop a procedure to gauge cost versus benefit for future construction and renovation projects.

The agency began renovating the Davis Center after juveniles were transferred to a new facility in 2009. The project was halted around December 2013.

In its response, the agency says it leased the property from the Division of Natural Resources. The agency says the DNR is working with other agencies to covert the property to a canning facility.