The 2015 Legislature started with big talk from Gov. David Ige and lawmakers about holding the city accountable for its $900 million rail deficit with the project barely 10 percent built.

It ended up an emphatic lesson on how well our leaders have been taught to roll over and play dead by labor, construction and development interests that want rail at any cost.

Gov. David Ige earned his doggie biscuit this week by meekly signing the Legislature’s five-year extension of the half-percent rail excise tax surcharge, after doubting all session the city really needed it this year.

He provided no fiscal analysis explaining his change of mind, instead asking the city for future rail financial reports — proverbially closing the barn door after the horse escaped.

Legislators had strong concerns about rail’s money management, but rolled over and gave the tax increase without demanding a public financial accounting or improvements in rail management.

House finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke later said Mayor Kirk Caldwell misled legislators by implying it would take a property tax increase of up to 43 percent to cover the current rail deficit, a figure that turned out to be only 5.6 percent.

It was a startling admission by Luke that she approved a nearly $2 billion tax increase without having her ample staff do even a basic arithmetic check of Caldwell’s representations.

Clearly, it was political arithmetic at play here as legislators and the governor deliberated under the stern gaze of labor and construction lobbyists who wield major muscle in political campaigns.

Now it goes to the City Council, where Chairman Ernie Martin promises a "tough sell" on extending the excise tax.

Council members will surely match the posturing of the Legislature, but in the end the Council will do what it always does — wilt under the evil eye of the rail lobby and give rail whatever it wants.

This isn’t about stopping rail, which will be built unless it collapses under its own weight; it’s about responsibly containing costs, something supporters and opponents alike should want.

Toward that end, lawmakers squandered precious leverage to force the city to run a tighter railroad.

The tax extension will generate $1.8 billion, which not only covers the current deficit but generously gives the city $900 million more to blow on future cost overruns.

Ige and Caldwell assure it’s enough to finish the now $7 billion project, but don’t bet on it.

As overruns near $1 billion building a tenth of the guideway in empty farmlands, who seriously thinks overruns won’t far exceed that as the 90 percent of remaining work hits populated areas?

Not to mention no plan to pay $100-million-a-year operating subsidies.

The governor and Legislature had a golden opportunity to set rail right; instead, they ducked from a runaway train.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.