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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   34002 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 12, 2025

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From your article, it seems like the obstacle is simply the cost recovery mechanism - i.e. they build it as they fund it and it takes that long to fund it using the current surcharge. I don't think that really says anything about "schedule disease" as such, it's just another example of cost disease.

it sounds bonkers that they planned a project like this, and when it came to "how do we pay for it?", their answer was the equivalent of "uh, look down the back of the sofa for some spare change".

I mean it's possible they had additional funding mechanisms in mind back in the 60s when the program started that just never materialized. Here's some trickle of cash, get started, if it goes well then later we can expand it and yet 60 years later no one wants to pony up the cash (and regulatory reforms) to make it happen.

It does seem like poor planning if the project is sixty years down the line and nobody figured out "how do we fund this?" though to be fair, it does sound like the usual local government "kick the can down the road" methodology.

The project started with a tax to fund it. That has lasted to this day. Depending on how high an electricity bill is, a progressive tax is applied to fund this program.

https://pwp.cityofpasadena.net/undergroundfaqs/

Q: How is the Underground Program funded? A: Initial construction costs are funded through an Underground Surtax on electric bills. As of now, the Surtax ranges from 1.21% to 4.34% of the total charges depending on your monthly electric usage. For a typical 500 kwh-per-month residential customer, the Underground Surtax is about $44 per year.

$44 per household per year does sound anemic. Some resident asked if they could double it to make the project move faster. City leaders say no, other constraints prevent moving faster.

But residents proposed increasing taxes to speed it up and the response was that won't work.

Some have suggested doubling the tax to halve the life of the project, but city officials say the disruption to traffic and available crews would make that impossible.

They're kind of pivoting from one excuse to another.

But sure, cost disease and schedule disease are close relatives. To some degree this would speed up if it was very cheap.

If it was cheaper to do then the same funding rate would finish it sooner

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