While the project to build tunnels beneath Capitol Hill to extend Sound Transit’s light rail system is a done deal, the agency is facing an expanding projected budget deficit on future projects that could impact transportation work on Broadway. The Seattle Times reports that Sound Transit is facing projections of a widening $3.9 billion budget deficit due to lower-than-expected revenue from sales tax:

Sound Transit has looked to trim spending, and to survive without a big reserve fund to cover cost overruns, in hopes of keeping its 15-year plan on schedule. Voters approved the package two years ago.

Sound Transit collects a sales tax of 9 cents per $10 purchase, a car-tab tax of $30 per $10,000 of vehicle value and approved federal grants that total more than $1.3 billion to date.

Even if things go badly, Sound Transit has legal power to delay or shorten projects, and to prolong its taxes, so there is little political risk the agency will be forced to cancel major lines.

The new numbers provide deeper background on the Seattle City Council’s letter to Sound Transit drawing the battle lines, so to speak, over the Seattle Department of Transportation plan to study extending the First Hill streetcar project all the way to north Broadway. Sound Transit is on the hook for the streetcar project which is currently planned to terminate near Broadway and John and the future home of the Capitol Hill light rail station.

CHS will have more on the City Council’s letter and what Sound Transit’s increasing financial woes will mean to Capitol Hill’s transportation projects.