Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker said Friday the county has agreed to shell out an extra $20 million dollars for the Purple Line in exchange for construction starting there.
The extra money brings the county’s total contribution for the 16-mile light-rail connecting New Carrollton to Bethesda to $120 million in bond financing and $10 million in land.
“It’s a tough commitment for us. Certainly we’re experiencing budget challenges in the county, but we’ve always been committed to investing in growing our commercial tax base, and that’s what the Purple Line would do,” said Baker.
The county is hoping to attract the FBI Headquarters and cyber security companies in order to expand the commercial tax base and bring in more revenues.
The Purple Line still faces other funding obstacles. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan approved the project in June with millions of dollars less in contributions from the state and more money from Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. The project is also dependent on $900 million in federal funding.
“We feel pretty good about the federal portion coming in,” Baker said.
He added the construction timeline will be up to the state.
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