Austin Transit Partnership budget passed amid ‘excessive’ spending concern

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Transit Partnership – the taxpayer-funded corporation in charge of realizing Project Connect – unanimously approved its $90 million annual budget on Sept. 21, after a board member raised concerns about planning to spend tens of millions of dollars on payroll and consultants this early in the project.Prior to approving the budget, ATP Board Member Tony Elkins questioned paying an estimated $30 million to an engineering consulting firm and expecting to fund