It's a topic of discussion that induces bulging veins, twitching extremities, and fits of white rage for many Jacksonville residents: the new Duval County Courthouse.  

It began during Mayor John Delaney's administration as a project that was supposed to cost $190 million.  It was passed on to Mayor John Peyton and finally to Mayor Alvin Brown, and it's gotten exponentially more expensive.  The price tag has ballooned to $350 million in the additional years it's taken to actually finish the building, which was supposed to open while Mayor Peyton was in office.  

Despite the city possibly coming to the end of a long battle with elected officials and taxpayers alike, Mayor Alvin Brown says he wants little to do with the opening of the courthouse many in Jacksonville refer to as the "Taj Mahal."

"I'm not going near that courthouse.  You're not going to even catch me in that courthouse."

Mayor Brown says the bottom line for him in getting the building open is not incurring any additional costs.  He says taxpayers have already been on the hook for nearly double what they originally bargained for, so the courthouse needs to open before another dime of taxpayer money is spent.

"We're going to make sure that the courthouse opens up, but I want to make sure that we're not wasting taxpayer dollars."

The latest battle over spending has concerned the furniture in the courthouse's hearing rooms.  The city wants to use furniture from the old county courthouse as well as some they're looking to purchase from other courthouses that are closing down.

"They're downsizing and closing courthouses, nobody is building massive, Taj Mahal courthouses," says Mayor Brown.

But that idea has been panned by people like Judge Donald Moran, who has been the city's most vocal opponent in the recent battle over furniture.  Moran says the mayor's office has done a poor job communicating with him on the courthouse since they took over in July.

Attorneys who would be using the courthouse regularly say the furniture is in very bad shape, and the hearing rooms in the courthouse could do with at least some new furniture to replace the old stuff they say is cracking, peeling, and even the wrong size in some cases.

"The courthouse is like a new kitchen.  I'm not saying we need the big, sub-zero freezer.  But I'm also saying we don't need a styrofoam cooler in there, either," says attorney John M. Phillips, host of WOKV's Courts and Sports.

"They've gone this far and it's kind of no time to get cheap," says attorney Robert Wood.

Mayor Brown says he took a pay cut, pays for his own parking, didn't get a new mayoral vehicle, and declined his pension option, all to save taxpayer money.  He thinks the courthouse should be looked at the same way.