Honolulu rail transit project reports $65 million in tax revenue

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) collected $65 million in tax revenue the quarter ended March this year for the construction of the city's rail project, the agency announced late last week.

The amount, which came from a half percent general excise and use tax (GET) surcharge, was $9 million above quarterly projections based on HART's financial plan, agency officials said in a press release. Still, the agency's overall revenues are roughly $30 million lower than expected, according to HART Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Dan Grabuaskas.

In total, HART has received $1.47 billion in local revenue funding for the project, Grabuaskas said in a statement.

The full cost of the project is estimated to surpass $5.2 billion, according to the project's website.

Set to expire at the end of 2022, the GET surcharge in Oahu is projected to cover 70 percent of the project's total cost, with the remainder funded by federal dollars, HART officials said. The tax began in January 2007, and will expire at the end of 2022.