The train to nowhere was to cost $33 billion and built by 2022. The cost including private companies partnering with government to finance it. In the 15 years since the scam began, NO company has invested—and the cost is now north of $200 billion—and might be finished in 2040 (with no riders able to afford a ticket). Do you remember a government EVER coming in on time and within budget?
In the City of Ventura, they claimed a water problem—so had to pay hundreds of millions to fix it. In fact, the fixes would not work—but the expenses continued to rise.
“Ventura Water hired Carollo Consulting in 2019 to estimate costs for several options to handle the treated wastewater, including VenturaWaterPure. The Carollo report projected VenturaWaterPure’s costs to be $277 million (page 415, Table A-7). In January 2024, the City Council learned of the enormous, additional expense VenturaWaterPure will cost citizens. The cost is over $556 million; $279 million more than the Carollo estimate from five years ago—more than double.
What happened? The consultants missed the reason for the water problem and low balled the cost of fixing it. Then the City got into the attitude of SUNK COST. Like the train to nowhere government and special interests argued that the taxpayers have already spent so much money on the project, it would be a shame to lose it. So, in this case the cost more than DOUBLED—and the problem is not really fixed. But the greedy corporations, hack politicians and unions made out like bandits. The losers? The taxpayers and water users.
Second Faulty Assumption: The Project’s Costs Are Reasonable
Venturans For A Responsible & Efficient Government, 1/31/24 www.vregventura.org.
(H/T: Bill Frank)
It was apparent in 2019 that there were flaws in Ventura Water’s narrative about VenturaWaterPure. Yet, City Hall and Ventura Water continued to follow the dogma unquestioningly. That is until another flaw surfaced. The faulty assumption that Ventura Water could implement VenturaWaterPure at a reasonable cost began to unravel.
Ventura Water hired Carollo Consulting in 2019 to estimate costs for several options to handle the treated wastewater, including VenturaWaterPure. The Carollo report projected VenturaWaterPure’s costs to be $277 million (page 415, Table A-7). In January 2024, the City Council learned of the enormous, additional expense VenturaWaterPure will cost citizens. The cost is over $556 million; $279 million more than the Carollo estimate from five years ago—more than double. There are excuses for the cost overruns, of course. Ventura Water blames inflation and COVID-19 as reasons no one could have predicted. Yet, faced with these higher costs, Ventura Water offers no alternatives to contain costs or provide reliable alternatives. They are wrong not to do so. No one at Ventura Water dares to challenge the VenturaWaterPure dogma. Instead, they place the decision at the feet of the City Council to demand alternatives.
VREG has done the research. Their report is readable, thorough, and devastating.