I encourage everyone who is concerned about rail to at least skim through the recovery plan.  I noticed HART indicates the “city subsidy” is only $160 million (Table 6-2).  Legislators had estimated the city portion to be about $430 million.

The key differences between HART’s and the state’s estimates are due to the term and the estimated annual amounts.  Legislators went back to 2012 and through 2030, the new extended term of the surcharge.  HART starts at 1/1/18 and only goes through 2027 – they have $0 administrative costs estimated for the last three years of the extension.  In addition, they have reduced annual administrative expenses of $5 and $1 million the last two years.

These are not realistic numbers, and if these are not realistic, what else is not?