Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Monorail to cost a billion dollars a mile
Seattle's fourteen-mile planned monorail is now expected to cost close to a billion dollars a mile. To be fair, this includes interest on the debt. But the interest has grown high because the tax revenues dedicated to build the monorail have fallen 30 percent short and the projected costs are 20 percent higher than originally expected.
When approved by voters in 2002, advocates said the monorail would cost $1.75 billion, or well over $100 million a mile. The Seattle Monorail Project promised that if costs grew or the project otherwise proved infeasible, they would not build it. Now, says the Seattle Weekly, the Project "feels it has approval from taxpayers to build, operate, and maintain the start-up Green Line at any cost."
Despite higher costs and lower revenues, the Project thinks it can still build the monorail simply by borrowing money over a longer period of time. A lot longer: it is currently projecting that it will take as much as 73 years to repay the bonds. This significantly increases the total cost.
Monorail Project officials dismiss the higher cost, claiming it is no different than paying for a house on a 30-year mortgage instead of a 15-year mortgage. But that is absurd: If you can pay for your house in fifteen years, you can spend the monthly payment on something else for the following fifteen years. If Seattle could pay for the monorail in 15 years instead of 50 or more, it could spend the tax revenues after that on something else or let the taxpayers keep the money.
Seattlites voted for a light-rail line whose costs ballooned out of sight and then were foolish enough to vote for a monorail whose costs are now ballooning out of sight. Some people never learn.
When approved by voters in 2002, advocates said the monorail would cost $1.75 billion, or well over $100 million a mile. The Seattle Monorail Project promised that if costs grew or the project otherwise proved infeasible, they would not build it. Now, says the Seattle Weekly, the Project "feels it has approval from taxpayers to build, operate, and maintain the start-up Green Line at any cost."
Despite higher costs and lower revenues, the Project thinks it can still build the monorail simply by borrowing money over a longer period of time. A lot longer: it is currently projecting that it will take as much as 73 years to repay the bonds. This significantly increases the total cost.
Monorail Project officials dismiss the higher cost, claiming it is no different than paying for a house on a 30-year mortgage instead of a 15-year mortgage. But that is absurd: If you can pay for your house in fifteen years, you can spend the monthly payment on something else for the following fifteen years. If Seattle could pay for the monorail in 15 years instead of 50 or more, it could spend the tax revenues after that on something else or let the taxpayers keep the money.
Seattlites voted for a light-rail line whose costs ballooned out of sight and then were foolish enough to vote for a monorail whose costs are now ballooning out of sight. Some people never learn.
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