Who’s paying for the Streetcar in South Waterfront?

The following is my best effort after researching several hours each day since Saturday. I expect to hear more information and will post it when received.

Total Streetcar Capital Costs: $45,590,000 per Portland Streetcar.
Or $42,260,000 per the Portland Development Commission (PDC). Details of project/costs breakdown and why the different numbers, after the break.

Using numbers from the Portland Streetcar site (pdf) and staff:

Total cost: $45,590,000:
$14 million Tax Increment Funds
$12.1 million Regional/State
$9.8 million Local Improvement District (property owners)
$6.2 million City (includes one land sale, which could have been used for other transportation needs within the district, and $600,000 in general city Transportation funds)
$1.79 million developers
$1.45 million Federal
$0.25 million tram/miscellaneous

Using PDC (pdf) numbers:

Total cost: $42,260,000
$13.38 million City (includes three land sales, $700,000 from general city Transportation funds, and $3.6 million Streetcar stock sale)
$10.787 million Federal
$9.82 million Local Improvement District (property owners)
$5.513 million Tax Increment Funds
$2.76 million State

Some of the differences are easily explained, such as the Streetcar allocating $10 million in federal money to the “Regional” source since it’s funneled through Metro. And the Streetcar included some street improvements that PDC apparently allocated in a different bucket. Other inconsistencies, I’d like to hear more information on.

The Streetcar extensions by the Willamette River south of the Marquam Bridge were done in three distinct segments: Riverplace, Gibbs, and Lowell, in order of construction. They are all in the “North Macadam Urban Renewal Area”, now known as South Waterfront although in fact “South Waterfront” is one subdistrict of the North Macadam URA.

Annual operating expenses: $600,000 for RiverPlace, $600,000 for Gibbs.

I can’t find an estimate for Lowell but it seems likely to be a similar amount, based on additional track/service. The total annual operating budget for the Streetcar from NW Portland to Gibbs is currently $3.9 million.
Source: Portland Streetcar (pdf)

Operating revenue sources:

RiverPlace:
$400,000 from TriMet
$150,000 Parking Meter Revenues
$ 50,000 fares/sponsorships/promotions
Source: Portland Streetcar

Gibbs:
$400,000 from TriMet
$150,000 Parking Meter Revenues
$ 50,000 fares/sponsorships/promotions
Source: Portland Streetcar (pdf)

Lowell:
Amounts not specified, but the sources and proportions will be roughly the same – more TriMet, lesser proportion Parking Meters and fares, per Chris Smith, chair of the Portland Streetcar Citizens Advisory Committee.

Note: the Lowell extension opens (pdf) on August 17. You can get some of your share of the public investment back with free rides on the Streetcar, Friday the 17th through Sunday August 19, and free rides on the tram that Saturday and Sunday.

Details on the three phases of construction projects, their funding, and questions raised during my research:

Willamette Week said last September that the total construction cost is $42 million, but when you add up the overall cost numbers given by the Streetcar sources cited below, without counting the “Gibbs savings” twice (see “Lowell” section, below), the total price is $45,590,000. But here’s one reason it’s taken me five days to research, write, and publish this post: the numbers on the Portland Development Commission’s site, Exhibit I-1 (pdf) of the Eighth Amendment to the North Macadam agreement, dated 10/13/2006, are different. PDC has the total cost of the Gibbs section the same (and the breakdown of funding sources matches, too), but PDC’s Riverplace bill is $2.2 million higher and the Lowell tab $6.25 million lower than the Streetcar site’s numbers.

Anyway, the point of this series is to try to identify clearly and simply who pays for what. Not going so well so far, from my perspective at least. See PDC’s Exhibit I-1 (pdf) for one version. Here are the funding breakdowns for the Streetcar in South Waterfront, from the Streetcar web site and Portland Office of Transportation staff:

Riverplace: $16 million
$8.4 million Tax Increment Funds
$3.1 million Transportation Land Sale (a parcel made accessible by the Harrison extension – AF)
$3.0 million Local Improvement District (property owners)
$0.8 million Federal (Housing and Urban Development grant)
$0.6 million Transportation Fund (City of Portland – see below – AF)
$0.1 million Misc.
Source: Portland Streetcar.org

The Streetcar site says the City paid $8.4 million out of Tax Increment Funds from the urban renewal district for the Riverplace segment. PDC’s table says only $1.7 million came from that source in that phase.

According to PDC, $12,680,000 for the Riverplace segment came from “other city sources”:
$3.1 Transportation land sale (same as the Streetcar’s table)
$5.25 million and $1.362 million PDC land sales
$3.6 million from “Streetcar rolling stock valued at $3.6 million”.

Tax Increment Financing and sale of Streetcar stock are two different things, which should be listed as such on the Streetcar site, in my opinion. Land sales by the Portland Development Commission should be separate listings from tax increment funding, too.

Gibbs: $15.8 million
$10 million Regional Transportation Funds (Metro, from federal sources)
$3.8 million Tax Increment Funds
$2.0 million Local Improvement District
Source: Portland Streetcar.org

PDC’s table agrees with these numbers and sources.

Lowell: $14.45 million
$4.80 million Local Improvement District
$2.50 million Transportation Systems Development Charges (citywide sources)
$2.10 million State of Oregon
$1.80 million Tax Increment Financing
$1.79 million developers – reimbursement for private utility work
$0.66 million Gibbs savings (left over from the Gibbs portion coming in under budget)
$0.65 million Federal (Housing and Urban Development grant)
$0.15 million Tram Transfer (money from the Tram project that went towards laying tracks in the plaza next to the Tram landing)

Source: e-mails from staff in Portland Office of Transportation, facilitated by Chris Smith, chair of the Streetcar Citizens Advisory Committee, who says these numbers will be added on the Streetcar site.

I don’t know why PDC’s site says the cost of the Lowell extension is $8,260,000. One reason may be that the Streetcar numbers include the costs and the revenue sources for Bond Street improvements, the Moody/Gibbs intersection and the plaza between OHSU’s Center for Health & Healing and the tram building. PDC’s number for the Local Improvement District for the Lowell Streetcar section is much lower, $4.8 million, which suggests they are counting some of those property owner dollars under a different category (probably the Moody Street improvements, with $30.5 million in funding from the LID).

PDC’s table says no tax increment financing was used for the Lowell extension. It lists $700,000 in “City Transportation Operating Fund” (which is basically the operating income for the bureau, from all sources including gas taxes, fees, fines, etc., per page 33 of the Transportation 2007-8 Budget pdf). So according to PDC, the Streetcar’s Lowell improvement project took $700,000 out of general transportation funding dollars. But PDC doesn’t list the $600,000 from that fund for the Riverplace section… see, curiouser and curiouser. PDC’s table has the same numbers for state/federal grants and Local Improvement District contributions, but doesn’t list the Transportation Systems Development Charge $2.5 million.

According to the Streetcar numbers, the Local Improvement District (LID) proportion goes up, the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) subsidy level goes down, as the project progresses through the three phases. But on PDC’s table, the TIF is $1.733 million for Riverplace, $3.78 million for Gibbs, zero for Lowell, and the LID numbers are $3 million, $2.02 million, and $4.8 million – so no trend there.

Anyway, soldiering on with the Streetcar numbers from PortlandStreetcar.org and staff:

Combined, per Portland Streetcar:
$14 million Tax Increment Funds
$12.1 million Regional/State
$9.8 million Local Improvement District
$6.2 million City
$1.79 million developers
$1.45 million Federal
$0.25 million tram/miscellaneous

Combined totals from PDC:
$13.38 million City
$10.787 million Federal
$9.82 million Local Improvement District
$5.513 million Tax Increment Funds
$2.76 million State

And there you have it – as far as I can tell, from at least 20 hours of research — keeping my fingers crossed that the trusty calculator I’ve used since high school is still up to the challenge. I’m hoping staff from Transportation and the Development Commission, and my helpful readers, will be able to add more details to help make sense of all this.