Seattle Mayor: Municipal broadband too costly; public-private deal is way to go

The best way to expand Internet access in Seattle (WA) is through public-private partnerships, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said at a regional broadband conference. The mayor reiterated the position he formed after a city-commissioned study released last summer showed it would cost between $480 million and $665 million to build out a municipal-broadband network across the city. That price tag is less than previously estimated, but the mayor said it was still too much to be feasible.

“When I came into office, I was very excited about the possibility of municipal broadband until the study came back and indicated it would be literally the largest tax increase in Seattle,” Mayor Murray said. The mayor’s office later clarified that financing a municipal broadband system would result in one of the largest tax increases in the city. The $930 million Move Seattle transportation levy approved by voters last fall may be bigger, depending on the exact cost of municipal broadband.