‘Most prepared city in America’ continues to underestimates costs

When voters approved a Seattle Fire levy in 2003 they thought they were really getting a bang for their buck.

For $197 million, voters thought Seattle’s aging fire stations would be modernized, among other emergency-related projects. And who wouldn’t with the levy motto, “Making Seattle the most prepared city in America.”

However, the lofty goal of upgrading the 33 fire houses has gone the way of the seawall. As reported in The Seattle Times, 32 of the fire houses came in over budget, and not just by a few thousand dollars here or there. Many of the projects went over budget by millions.

Take Fire Station 18 in Ballard, for example. Originally budgeted for $1 million, it has cost $6,610,000; 552 percent over budget, according to the Times.

The only station that was finished on budget was Fire Station 39 in Lake City. That was estimated at $5,758,000 and completed for $5,370,000.

All the added costs have turned the $197 million project into a $306 million project. On top of that, what was supposed to only take nine years is now in its 12th year.

The city argues that the reason for the higher costs is due to inflation in construction after the 2003 vote. Changing needs within the fire department have also led to increase the “scope” of some work, the Times reports.

This information follows the announcement that the Elliott Bay Seawall project’s budget increased. Originally budgeted at $300 million in 2013, project costs forced the city to increase spending on what it sees as one of the most critical infrastructure projects.

It’s not good news for a city that is asking voters to approve a nine-year $930 million transportation levy that it says will cover road improvement projects and bridge repair and future levies that are bound to follow. What’s even more concerning is Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat’s theory on why the fire projects are over budget. He writes that in order to get voter approval, the City Council cut $70 million from the original proposal of $260 million.

Westneat points out this is what happened with the seawall, too. The seawall was originally estimated to cost $390 million, but that cost dropped to $300 million. Now the cost is back up to about $400 million.

But voters can rest easy, because the city is looking into why the seawall is millions over budget. How? It is paying a consultant $200,000 to study the issue.