ST. LOUIS — The U.S. government paid for about two-thirds of the $51.5 million Loop Trolley, and if the streetcar line stops operating, the government is likely to want a significant portion of that money back.

That’s the assessment of James Wild, executive director of East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the organization that coordinates federal transportation funding for the greater St. Louis area.

“It’s likely some of the funds would have to be repaid, we just have to determine how much that would be,” Wild said. “The Federal Transit Administration is trying to be very deliberate and careful in what their determination is going to be, because, to the best of their knowledge, this is not something that has occurred in their region and we’re not sure if there is a precedent for this.”

Wild said the entity that would have to repay the money is the one that accepted the federal grant: the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District. The district is funded by a 1% tax at businesses along the trolley line. The tax is raising an average of $73,000 per month so far this year, a 13.3% increase from last year.

Mokhtee Ahmad, the regional administrator for Region VII, which includes Missouri, referred a reporter’s questions to the administration’s press office in Washington.