The Mayor, City Attorney, and State AG on Cost Overruns

Mayor McGinn

"So McGinn, Holmes, and McKenna have all passed the bar...," was going to be my lead-in, but I couldn't think of a punchline. Who will rid us of this troublesome cost overrun provision?

Mayor McGinn has a new post on his blog, where he makes a lawyerly argument against hoping for the best in deep-bore tunnel (DBT) construction and crossing overrun bridges only when we come to them. First, he lays out the wider context for cost overruns.

Both City Attorney Pete Holmes and State Attorney General Rob McKenna agree that the state's not-one-dollar-more-than-$2.4-billion limitation on DBT spending is for real and enforceable. McKenna adds that, in any event, the state's control of the transportation budget gives the Legislature what Jerry and George know as "hand."

(McGinn doesn't dwell on this point, but I think it's worth emphasizing: Without that cap, and without a clear signal that Seattle must pay for cost overruns, there would be no legislative agreement to fund the DBT project. It would not have passed. Seattle tunnel boosters, in essence, want to play legislative chicken, and confront the Legislature with a fait almost accompli in the case of overruns, daring the Legislature to pull the plug on a project it's sunk $2.4 billion into.)

On the legal standing of the provision that puts Seattle residents on the hook for cost overruns, Holmes and McKenna differ:

Holmes: "It is not enforceable... We are solid on that, we are very clear on that. It is a red herring."

McKenna: "Once it’s adopted, it’s our job to defend it. A law which is adopted by the Legislature is presumptively constitutional."

McGinn gives his summation: "If we avoid the issue and wait for cost overruns to occur, we will be in the worst position of all--an unfinished tunnel, lawyers litigating Seattle’s share of cost overruns, and a state Legislature with the undeniable power to enforce its spending cap."

McCaw Hall promenade

That's just like a lawyer, to advocate for caution beforehand. But it's not just like a politician. Our politicos routinely begin construction on projects *cough520bridge* they haven't finalized funding on, and seem to relish the prospect of sticking "someone else" with the bill for overruns, despite the fact that "someone else" is ultimately the taxpayer.

Locally, I'm thinking of the 2004 brouhaha over the renovation of McCaw Hall, when it developed that the Seattle Center had "projected" King County would give $5 million--and included that in its funding plan--without having secured an ironclad commitment. King County actually ponied up half that, $2.5 million. Altogether, Seattle Opera and PNB were to be left "on the hook for more than $11 million in debt spread over 20 years."

Noted the Seattle Times, a tunnel booster: "The debt exists because the hall was built without all of its financing firmly in place."