Monorail agency officially dissolves; cost taxpayers $125 million

By now, the futuristic monorail line was supposed to be zooming between West Seattle and Crown Hill.

Of course that dream died some time ago, in 2005, when the Seattle Monorail Authority discovered it didn't have enough money.

But around 6:15 p.m. Thursday night, at the tail end of the rush hour commute the line was supposed to ease, this chapter in Seattle's history came to a close. Finally, the authority created by city voters to build the line dissolved.

Jonathan Buchter, a consultant hired to staff the authority on its last day, and clearly in no need to buy office supplies, handed out packets of information to the board members.

"We're rapidly running out of paper," said Buchter, who was hired to staff the authority on its last day and formerly the authority's chief operating officer.

He had told Beth Goldberg, the authority's board chairwoman, before the meeting. "If you want to take your nameplate with you, that's one less thing for staff to do."The authority's last meeting was a final financial accounting. All 33 properties the authority bought had been sold, all lawsuits settled. The authority closed up shop with $425,963.07 in the bank, which the board voted Thursday to give to Metro for bus service in the communities that would have been served by the line.

In June 2006, the authority stopped collecting the monorail's car tabs tax, not wanting to keep taxing for a line that was not going to be built, but hoping it had enough to pay off debts.

Paul Toliver was the only board member left from the days when the board was trying to build the monorail. "I wish it had been built," he said. "Alas that is not the case."

Board member Vlad Oustimovitch asked Jonathan Buchter, a consultant hired to staff the authority on its last day, how much the monorail project ended up costing taxpayers.

The answer: $124.7 million.