McGinn threatens to veto tunnel if state won't pick up overruns

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn will try to stop the planned waterfront tunnel by veto if the state doesn't agree to pay cost overruns, he said Wednesday.

McGinn said an agreement before the City Council is Seattle's last chance to take a stand on a piece of state law that makes property owners who benefit from the tunnel responsible for cost overruns.

"The next month is the critical point at which the City Council and the mayor's office ... will indicate whether we think the project should go forward while Seattle taxpayers are at risk of potentially devastating cost overruns," he said in a news conference Wednesday.

The announcement brings to a head the central issue of McGinn's mayoral campaign. His opposition to the tunnel set him apart from a large field in last year's primary and led mainstream political and business leaders to campaign against him in the general election.

Since he took office, council members and others have wondered how he would try to stop the tunnel, which has the support of the governor and at least seven of the City Council's nine members.

On Wednesday, Council President Richard Conlin called the mayor's move "grandstanding," and said if McGinn has a problem with the legislative provision, he should take that up with the Legislature. Conlin said the council has enough votes to override a veto.

Transportation Chairman Tom Rasmussen said McGinn could dangerously delay the $2 billion tunnel by blocking the agreement.

"I don't think that he understands that delaying this project is very, very risky," Rasmussen said. "I think it's a dangerous game. I think it's harmful. It's disingenuous."

The council has noted that the project's budget includes a $415 million reserve for overruns. Council members say the overrun provision is not enforceable. They say a delay could risk higher construction costs or, if the agreement falls apart, the state could pull funding for the project.

Before the state can seek bidders for the project, the city must agree to a contract that spells out a host of details, such as permits and street rights of way.

Lloyd Brown, state Department of Transportation spokesman, said he doesn't know what the state's next move would be if the city agreements never happen.

"This project's an urgent safety problem and we need to stay on schedule, but it's really hard to build a project in a city that won't work with us," Brown said.

Rasmussen said the council is hiring lawyers and other experts to make sure the city is protected in that contract from cost overruns.

The agreement, which the council could vote on as soon as the end of May, will spell out who is responsible for which overruns, he said. Since the city is still negotiating with the state, Rasmussen said, he is confused by McGinn's timing.

"I think that his saying now that he's going to veto it before we've even completed our work affects the atmosphere of the negotiations in a negative way," he said.

McGinn said he doesn't think the state will be willing to take on all cost overruns. Even if the governor agreed to that, he said, the Legislature would need to act to ensure Seattle taxpayers wouldn't be stuck with the bill.

House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, said the overrun issue is an excuse for McGinn to try to hinder the project.

"Being uncomfortable with language in a bill is one thing," she said. "Trying to block a project is another, and I'm not sure one person could do that. He can slow it down and make it more expensive, which was his concern all along. Time is money when these projects are going on."

Clibborn speculated that the state could force the tunnel project through, using its legal power under the Growth Management Act to declare highways an "essential public facility." But such hard-nosed tactics would be "disconcerting" to its relationships with cities, she said.

Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2011.

Transportation reporter Mike Lindblom contributed. Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com