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Written by Chris Walker
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Tuesday, 13 April 2010 |
A fiscal train wreck for Fairfax County—a $400 million annual drain on the County and its residents and businesses.
The first complete compilation of the real costs of the Silver Line to our localityThe real total cost of the Silver Line for Fairfax County is composed of several elements:
1. WMATA Subsidy.
Currently Fairfax County gives WMATA $105 million a year as its share of the regional subsidy. This is 13.5 % of the $775 million contributed by the compact jurisdictions.
Fairfax currently is charged for 5.5 stations. When the Silver Line is built out, 8 stations will be added to Fairfax’s total, bringing the total to 13.5 stations. This will make Fairfax the second largest jurisdiction in terms of stations, and the second largest in terms of both population and assumed ridership in the whole system—ahead of the Maryland counties, and only behind the District of Columba.
Assuming that ridership is proportionate to the existing Fairfax per station figures, Fairfax’s share of the WMATA subsidy will rise to 22%.
The Silver Line will increase WMATA’s operating deficit by $120 million a year (Environmental Impact Statement estimate). At today’s numbers plus the Silver Line addition, the deficit would then be $900 million for FY 2012.
22% of $900 million is about $200 million. Thus, the Silver Line will double Fairfax’ yearly obligations to WMATA, adding a minimum of $100 million (and rising) to the general budget of Fairfax each and every year for the future.
This figure does not include the cost of any capital campaign or special assessments for Metro Matters or other campaigns. Since the base system requires $10 billion in upgrades, Fairfax’ share of this would be $2.2 billion.
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