It's eye-opening that all top Butler County officials cannot agree on what the final cost of the new-prison project is likely to be. Apparently, it will be between "$34 million-plus," as noted by chief clerk Bill O'Donnell, and $50 million, as predicted by Controller Jack McMillin.

The county commissioners awarded construction contracts totaling approximately $32 million at a special meeting Monday.

Whatever the final cost turns out to be, the commissioners initially targeted only $30 million of a new $50 million bond issue for the prison project. The amount of money allocated for the prison, compared with the higher-than-first-predicted cost, is understandably a basis for uneasiness on the part of property owners.

If not enough existing money is available for the commissioners to fill the prison-cost gap, that responsibility will fall on the shoulders of county taxpayers, whose property taxes have gone up in recent years for reasons outside the parameters of the prison effort.

But even more eye-opening than the lack of agreement about the prison's ultimate cost at this late date is one commissioner's misleading statement regarding county leaders' attempts to save money on the project. At Monday's meeting, Commissioner Glenn Anderson pointed out that by accepting the lowest bids instead of the highest bids in each construction category the county saved about $2 million.

What Anderson didn't say was that by law the commissioners were required to accept the lowest bids meeting project specifications.

Therefore, the commissioners deserve no special praise in regard to Monday's contract actions. In actuality, they did not save the taxpayers $2 million.

County taxpayers are justified in pondering what Anderson's motivation might have been for making such a preposterous statement. At the minimum, the comment implies a lack of understanding of the full scope and requirements of the bidding process.

That prospect is troubling.