Today’s trip is to Disneyland, not the one in California or even the Disney-themed hotel in Ko Olina — instead, we are going to the one over at Honolulu’s City Hall.

If Disneyland is the "happiest place on Earth," City Hall may be second happiest because the City Council is working on a plan to spend money twice.

Following the "have your cake and eat it, too" school of public financing, Council Chairman Ernie Martin is suggesting that the cost overruns for the rail project be limited to the first announced $910 million.

This would be a cap, but the Council is selling it as a "flexible cap." Sort of a rubber cap that gets bigger if you need more money.

The part of Martin’s plan that makes it qualify for Magic Kingdom material is that he wants to take part of tax money proposed to pay for the cost overruns and use it to build affordable housing.

There are a couple of things swirling around here.

First, the Legislature passed and Gov. David Ige signed a bill that says the Oahu tax surcharge is extended to five years with the new money going for "capital costs of a locally preferred alternative for a mass transit project."

The money can’t go for magic ponies or affordable housing; the law says the tax was collected for a train, nothing else. To change that, Martin and company would somehow have to get the Legislature to rewrite their tortuously passed tax bill and then convince Ige to sign it.

Second, the city needs more money to finish the rail project. That is why the state approved extending the tax surcharge for an extra five years. That gives the city an extra $1.6 billion in taxpayer money. Earlier this year the city rail project was pegged at $5.26 billion, but new estimates have the cost at $6.57 billion. That is a difference of $1.31 billion or almost all of the five-year tax surcharge.

If Martin is eyeing that extra money for affordable housing, he is forgetting the realities of Honolulu’s overbudget rail system. Even the city’s biggest rail cheerleader, Mayor Kirk Caldwell, last week said the train cost is going up and up.

"They are probably going to need more money because construction costs continue to increase," Caldwell told the Council.

"What I am concerned about is the last five miles being built from the City Center to Ala Moana; I believe there may not be sufficient money to pay those contractors who bid."

Caldwell spelled it out, "I do believe they are going to need more than $910 million." The mayor was asked if that is true, why did he run a campaign three years ago saying "rail was already paid for."

"At the time I made those statements we were in a very different economic situation and there were sufficient funds," Caldwell said. "We are in a different market and it is costing more. The financial situation has changed dramatically."

The folks waiting to move into Martin’s affordable housing might also find that the "financial situation has changed dramatically," because the money that was going toward land, lumber and nails is instead going to finish building the city’s rail line.

So you really can’t spend the rail tax money twice, and if you want to go to Disneyland, it is going to cost you.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.