Voters will pass judgment on the Seattle monorail in November for a fifth time, though it may be too late to resuscitate the city's transportation dream.

The Seattle Monorail Project board yesterday agreed, under duress, to ask voters to either trim the Green Line by three miles so it runs from Alaska Junction in West Seattle to West Dravus Street in Interbay, or shut the project down. Just a few hours earlier, the Seattle City Council had joined Mayor Greg Nickels in demanding an end to the project.

An SMP attorney dropped off the hastily written ballot language at King County Elections with about an hour to spare before the 4:30 p.m. deadline.

"It's time for the people to decide whether they want to save the people's train," said Kristina Hill, SMP board chairwoman, who had argued for weeks that the agency's much-maligned finance plan is solid, and that she saw no need to vote again.

"The mayor's position is simple. It's too late. The city has lost all confidence in the board," said spokesman Marty McOmber.

Nickels will encourage lawmakers to dissolve the state-authorized SMP next year.

Pat Flaherty, a vice president for lead monorail contractor Fluor Enterprises, said late yesterday he was cutting his Cascadia Monorail team from about eight people to two to work on other projects, and packing boxes to take from the team's Westlake Center office. The group, which has spent well over $10 million of its own money, is through unless the City Council, Nickels and SMP rally behind the project.

"We've made a decision we're not going to spend any more money or risk until we see a level of support to the city," he said as got ready to board a plane back to his London home.

The proposed shortening of the planned 14-mile line would cut about $250 million from Cascadia's $1.64 billion contract offer. The new line leaves out Ballard, and a tall monorail bridge across the Lake Washington Ship Canal.

SMP's decision to seek a public vote was a deathbed conversion:

• Without city approval, the line cannot be built.

• And in December, Fluor's contract offer expires, leaving SMP without a builder, after spending close to $200 million in land and planning costs.

Both Nickels and the council ran out of patience late Thursday, when SMP board members voted 6-2 not to meet the city's demand that they write a ballot measure. The board also portrayed the continuing financial problems as a misunderstanding by city officials.

Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said the mayor hasn't decided whether to actively campaign against the new monorail measure, which will go before voters Nov. 8.

A key pro-monorail campaign message, said SMP board member Cleve Stockmeyer, should be that elevated monorail tracks, at around $150 million a mile, are a good deal because they're one-third the price of light-rail tunnels. Tunnels have far greater passenger capacity.

Contractors do not intend to help bankroll a campaign, Flaherty said. Dozens of SMP consulting firms and would-be builders did contribute to previous monorail campaigns.

After the SMP vote, board member Steve Williamson called on Hill to resign from the board to improve credibility with the city. Hill replied she would confer with other board members about who should be chair.

After voters approved the Green Line in 2002, the City Council mostly embraced the agency. Several council members have come to feel a sense of betrayal at the monorail board's response to its financial problems, mainly a one-third shortage in car-tab tax income.

"It is time for Seattle to stop living this dream transformed into a nightmare and start a new day," David Della said.

Jean Godden cried as she called for an end to SMP.

"I'm angry and I think a lot of citizens are going to be angry as well," Councilman Nick Licata said before the board wrote its ballot measure. "Citizens supporting the monorail are going to be angry we spent so much money and still don't have a monorail. ... They [SMP] must have a skull thicker than an ox that they could not hear citizens' concerns."

Monorail board member Cindi Laws fired back in a Northwest Cable News interview. "The council didn't jerk the permits. It jerked the voters," she said. One-third of the council members would be dead within 10 years, she said, while the monorail would serve future generations. Pro-monorail propositions passed in 1997, 2000 and 2002, and a repeal measure failed in 2004.

Licata softened his words at day's end, after SMP capitulated to a ballot measure.

"I would hope that if the citizens do approve a monorail one more time, that the city will cooperate to get it built," he said.

Last night, anti-monorail state Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, said he would propose legislation to count the SMP's car-tab tax as a credit against any future car-tab taxes for regional roads and transit.

There could be an overlap of roughly one year when SMP collects the tax to help pay off a $110 million debt and a possible regional car-tab tax begins. Seattle residents wouldn't get double-charged, Jacobsen explained.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631