Slog - The Stranger's Blog

Line Out

The Music Blog

« When consumer revolution becom... | Gosh »

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

An $11 Billion Monorail?

Posted by on June 21 at 15:26 PM

According to the financial figures released by the monorail agency yesterday, yes. (Look in the bottom right corner of the first page.) Using a variety of mechanism - including uninsured “junk” bonds, which carry a comparatively high interest rate of 7 or 8 percent - the monorail’s total debt would grow to $11 billion by 2053. And that’s only if the tax base (the value of cars in Seattle) grows as quickly as the monorail agency has predicted - a brisk 6 percent a year. If it doesn’t, the tax will have to last longer (as long as 2078, in one agency scenario) to pay off the bonds - increasing the total debt even further.