In a split vote Wednesday reflecting officials’ frustrations with the over-due and over-budget Purple Line, Maryland’s Board of Public Works approved the Maryland Transit Administration’s request for $96 million for ongoing insurance coverage for construction of the 16-mile light rail in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.

The agreement with Aon Risk Solutions of Maryland will “ensure insurance services and coverage through the end of the Purple Line construction period,” according to board documents. It includes almost $12 million in retroactive payments to cover an outstanding balance for the past two years and six months, as well as coverage for an additional 1,473 days — roughly four years stretching to the end of 2028.

An MTA official said Wednesday afternoon that this will not further push back the opening of the line, planned for winter 2027.

Comptroller Brooke Lierman voted no, saying she was concerned about the ability of the Maryland Department of Transportation, of which the MTA is a part, to accurately forecast its funding needs. Lierman said she received assurances back in March that the MTA’s funding wouldn’t be in jeopardy as the department developed its budget — the department later proposed deferring roughly $670 million in spending.

“Until MDOT can demonstrate its ability to budget in a way that maintains all of its current assets, I am really struggling on these additional payments,” Lierman said Wednesday.

The Baltimore Democrat added that the department should have known back in March, during a major contract approval process, that this contract also needed an extension.

“No rationale has been offered to me or my team for the failure to bring this up in our prior Purple Line budget conversations,” she said.

Gov. Wes Moore said he shared Lierman’s frustrations and called the Purple Line a “boondoggle,” using the same term his predecessor, former Gov. Larry Hogan called the Baltimore Red Line project he canceled. Both Moore and State Treasurer Dereck E. Davis, who sit on the three-member board with Lierman, approved the contract.

It’s the latest in a string of visits the MTA has made before the board with add-on contracts as the estimated total cost of the Purple Line has climbed to nearly double its original projection.

The suburban D.C. light rail project, greenlit by Hogan as a public-private partnership, broke ground in 2017 but quickly ran into problems.

The original agreement tasked the private Purple Line Transit Partners with building and then maintaining the rail line for 30 years, after which the state would own it. Such agreements are generally meant to help big public works projects get off the ground when governments may lack the capital to start them.

In 2020, the MTA took over a critical construction phase — relocating utilities — as the original contractor performing the work pulled out. The estimated completion date for the light rail has since been pushed back multiple times and it’s now slated to open to passengers in roughly three years.

MTA Administrator Holly Arnold said her team has overcome significant challenges but is “not over the finish line yet.” However, she highlighted for the board just how far along the project has come, noting the project is about 73% done.

But this insurance contract got lost in the shuffle amid all the emergency procurements since 2020.

“Unfortunately, in the flurry of activity of the program contracts, the procurement officer basically just made an administrative error,” Arnold said.

The Purple Line is a huge financial commitment for a cash-strapped department. Earlier this year, transportation officials announced they’re considering a slew of cuts across all state transportation agencies, including roughly $670 million from the MTA. If finalized, the planned cuts would delay the agency’s transition to all-electric buses and dozens of rehabilitation projects like replacing the light rail tracks along Baltimore’s Howard Street.

Lierman mentioned the proposed cuts and emphasized one project that would be spared: the Purple Line.

“To be clear, this means cuts to rail that serve the entire state of Maryland, from MARC to light rail, the subway, to people throughout the state who are affected by these project deferrals,” Lierman said.

Moore reiterated the state’s commitment to the project despite his frustrations.

”It is something that we have said that in our time we’re going to fix and we have to get it done,” he said.

The frustration has boiled over at more than just Board of Public Works’ meetings. Other local leaders have seen the Purple Line as another example of disproportionate investment in Washington D.C.-area transit at the expense of Baltimore.

The draft budget, which Maryland lawmakers will vote on in the upcoming General Assembly, fully meets the state’s commitment to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which oversees and operates D.C.’s Metro and bus system.