Letter: Proposed Richland tag fee only partly for bridge

The March 8 Duportail bridge article by Wendy Culverwell implied that the $20 for 20 years tag fee was to cover a $4 million shortfall on the $38 million bridge cost. That is also the number mentioned frequently in other articles relating to the bridge cost.

However, later in the article, it is said that only $340,000 yearly would be spent on paying off the $4 million bond out of the $850,000 collected from the tag fee. The rest of the $20 would be for other road costs (on Duportail?). That means only about $8 of the tag fee is for the bridge.

If the above figures are for a 20-year municipal bond, again as implied in the article, the interest rate would be nearly 6 percent, which is well into junk bond territory. If this is so, where can we sign up? Where else can a Richland resident get paid for more convenient shopping at Queensgate Walmart?

This story was originally published March 19, 2017 at 4:21 AM with the headline "Letter: Proposed Richland tag fee only partly for bridge."