Woo Hoo! Now give us our money back!

Remember when the old Clackamas County Board of Commissioners borrowed about $20 million to give to the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project in 2012 - just days before an election that would have hampered their action - over loud protests from opponents ….

Well, the good news is that the PMLR project is almost done and is UNDER BUDGET!  Cause for celebration.  The savings will amount to about 3% of the total budgeted project total, I calculate (very rough estimations) that Clackamas County should receive a reimbursement of about $600,000.

Cheers!  I am sure the County can use it on roads or bridges or some useful transportation project.

Read the comments - there certainly a lot of Debbie Downers out there.  It seems many thing we won't get our money back, or that the numbers are faked.

TriMet: New MAX line millions under budget

Portland Tribune, March 27, 2015  By Jim Redden

 Trimet shows off new MAX train.  

TriMet says the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Line scheduled to open on Sept. 12 will come in millions of dollars under budget

Although the exact savings won't be known until 2019, the regional transit agency estimates the savings on the $1.49 billion project will be in the $10 million to $40 million range.

   Half of the cost of the project — called the Orange Line — is being paid by the Federal Transit Administration. It will recover 50 percent of the savings, an amount somewhere between $5 million and $20 million. The final figure will not be known until the federal appropriations conclude, according to TriMet.