Mayor Mike McGinn sent a letter (.pdf) to Governor Chris Gregoire today saying that she agreed the state must pay for any cost overruns on the deep-bore tunnel when she signed an agreement with the city and county last year.

In that agreement—signed in January 2009—Gregoire, former mayor Greg Nickels, and former King County executive Ron Sims said that each government body would pay for its part of the project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The city, for instance, would be responsible for paying cost overruns on replacing the downtown seawall.

"This suggests to me that you are willing to work to have the State take responsibility for cost overruns for the tunnel," McGinn wrote.

Today's missive was a response to a letter send by the governor on April 23 (.pdf). In it, Gregoire wrote, "I remain committed to the agreement I signed with then Mayor Nickels and Executive Sims regarding our respective responsibility for the portions of the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project that each of our governments has agreed to undertake."

To which McGinn has cited that agreement, which says, "[A]llocation of specific project responsibility to each jurisdiction carries with it the responsibility for project management, environmental work, design, construction, and project cost overruns."

McGinn said earlier this week that he wold veto any bill from the city council that puts the city on the hook for cost overruns on the deep-bore tunnel, a construction project being engineered by the state. After the city approves its end of the deal, requests for proposals are scheduled to go out at the end of the month.