With a total estimated price tag for citywide utility undergrounding that has risen above $100 million, Del Mar’s Finance Committee held a special meeting Oct. 22 to review options for how to finance each phase of the project.

Undergrounding is funded by Measure Q, a local sales tax approved by Del Mar voters in 2016. The city’s Measure Q fund will have a projected $500,000 balance by the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year in June, which would not be enough to proceed with the next undergrounding district.

So far the city has completed an undergrounding pilot project at Tewa Court and 10th Street. It has also started construction along District 1A, located along Stratford Court South, with an estimated August 2025 completion date.

Construction on District X1A, located by Crest Canyon, is scheduled to begin next spring if there is enough funding.

“People voted for Measure Q under the assumption that it was going to cost $20 million, $30 million and be done within a reasonable amount of time,” Finance Committee member Bret D’vincent said. “Seems like now we’re at $100 million, $200 million and 25 years or 30 years. It’s fundamentally different what we’re deciding now and what people voted on.”

City staff said costs imposed by San Diego Gas & Electric, which has to perform some of the work, and inflation have made the project more expensive.

The committee voted to ask city staff to investigate financing options for undergrounding, which would still be vetted at the committee level and by the City Council if the city goes that route.

Finance Committee member Laura Demarco asked city staff members to “figure out a way to make this as cheap as possible,” including possibly coming up with a public-private partnership with local residents.

“It will reduce the city’s overall cost and they can do it, whether it’s an assessment district where there is a 20-year payout on their property tax,” she said.