A Marin County group has sued that county's transportation authority to block an $8 million transfer to the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transportation district.
The suit alleges that SMART has an undisclosed $35 million additional shortfall in its plan to open scaled-down commute rail service from Santa Rosa to San Rafael in 2014.
"I am trying to stop SMART from building half a train," said John Parnell of Novato, founder of Repeal SMART. "If the train was going to be built the way it was approved, I would not have a problem."
Rail agency officials Thursday did not cinfrm or deny the assertion of an additional $35 million deficit.
SMART Chairwoman Valerie Brown said the specifics are in flux and that updated cost and revenue estimates will be given to the SMART board in August when the board will address the options and adjust its plan.
"There are a lot of moving parts, there are things being looked at now that were not looked at two months ago," Brown said. "Some may be in the plus and some may be minus. It is premature to say this project is this much down or this much over."
The financial situation and consultants' work are being reviewed by Fahrad Mansourian, Marin County's public works director who is the temporary executive director of SMART.
Mansourian said he is only a month into the review and has a lot more work before being able to put the financial picture together for the board.
"I don't where this $30 million to $35 million number came from; I don't know what is in their head," Mansourian said. "The board brought me on to have a thorough look at the thing, whether the number is x or y or z. I cannot be pinned down to a number or deny a number because I am not there yet."
The last official estimate of the cost to build the Santa Rosa-to-San Rafael line - in itself a reduced plan from the original Cloverdale-to-Larkspur route - was $470 million, which is $109 million more than SMART estimated that it can raise by selling construction bonds and from local, state and federal funds.
Directors made $88 million in cost-saving measures, but are still $21 million short. To bridge the gap, it asked Marin to contribute $8 million, the Sonoma County Transportation Authority $3 million and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission $10 million. Sonoma and Marin have approved their allocations.
Parnell on Thursday declined to identify his source for the existence of an additional $35 million shortfall, first saying it was "an anonymous source" and then, "I have good sources to indicate the shortfall exists."
The suit against the Transportation Authority of Marin was filed in Marin County Superior Court Wednesday.
It seeks to overturn a June 23 decision by directors of the Marin authority to allocate $8 million to SMART.
The authority initially deadlocked 7 to 7 on the allocation, but later in the meeting Larkspur Mayor Joan Lundstrom asked it be reconsidered. She changed her vote and the measure passed 8 to 6.
The suit alleges that the process violated the state's open meeting act.
The suit also contends that Measure A, a half-cent sales tax passed by Marin voters in 2004 and administered by the Marin transportation authority, specifically prohibits funds being spent for rail transportation.
According to the authority's measure adopted June 23, however, the $8 million comes from toll bridge and state funds, not Measure A revenue.
It also seeks to prohibit any members of SMART from serving on the Marin transportation authority board, contending that dual membership is a conflict of interest. There are currently five SMART directors on the 16-member Marin authority board.
Parnell also has filed public record requests with SMART, the Transportation Authority of Marin and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission seeking reports, spreadsheets, presentations, emails and notes regarding the construction of the initial SMART segment of line from.
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