LYNNWOOD — This city would have the distinction of the highest sales tax rate in the state if voters approve a two-tenths of 1 percent increase to fund road projects.

If Proposition 1 receives voter approval on the November ballot, the combined sales tax rate would go up to 9.7 percent. The city currently is among more than three dozen municipalities with a combined 9.5 percent sales tax. (Mill Creek has the highest combined sales tax, at 9.6 percent.)

The 0.02 percent increase works out to about 1 cent for every $50 purchase.

For that price, Proposition 1 would add about $4 million in additional revenue per year, for 10 years, to Lynnwood’s Transportation Benefit District coffers. The money would help pay for routine maintenance, such as filling potholes and sweeping streets, as well as bigger-ticket projects, such as widening 196th Street SW.

Proponents say the tax increase is the fairest way to generate money for road projects since it ensures that the thousands of outsiders who come to Alderwood mall and a future Costco warehouse will pay into maintaining the roads that take them there.

“Lynnwood is a magnet, and the streets are the conduit,” said Larry Ingraham, a Lynnwood real estate broker who co-wrote a statement in support of the ballot proposal.

Wrapping road costs into the extra tax people pay for their T-shirt or movie ticket purchase ensures there’s no more “free ride” on Lynnwood streets, he said.

Opponents such as Ted Hikel say it’s a “horrendous” idea that wouldn’t raise enough money to do the projects the city wants anyway.

“Why in the world would a city that is so dependent on sales tax revenue want to increase the amount they get so much?” Hikel said.

Not alone

Lynnwood is just the latest city to leverage the sales tax option of its Transportation Benefit District powers as it looks at a to-do list that far outstrips revenue.

Monroe voters in August also approved a 0.02 percent tax increase for road projects, bringing that city’s sales tax rate to 8.7 percent. Monroe joined Marysville, Arlington, Stanwood and Snohomish, where voters earlier approved their own 0.02 percent tax increases.

“We’re not the lone ranger,” Ingraham said.

Ingraham sits on the nearly 30-year-old Snohomish County Committee for Improved Transportation, a nonprofit focused on transportation issues. Reid Shockey, a planner who lives and works in Everett, heads the group and was one of the co-writers of the statement in support of Proposition 1.

Particularly as a transportation revenue package continues to languish in Olympia with the Legislature struggling to fund education and other needs, Transportation Benefit Districts are seen as a key way to fill the gaps.

“It’s something that the voters ought to step up and do,” Ingraham said.

Car tab fee already

Lynnwood already uses its Transportation Benefit District to charge a $20 car tab fee. If Proposition 1 passes, the city could be the only Transportation Benefit District to charge both a car tab fee and extra sales tax.

Elsewhere in south Snohomish County, the Transportation Benefit Districts in Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace each charge a $20 car tab fee. An effort on the November 2010 ballot by Edmonds to increase its car tab fee to $40 fell short with voters.

Lynnwood’s car tab fee brings in just under a half-million dollars each year. The money has been used mostly for pavement overlay.

“Just to put it in perspective,” said Public Works Director Bill Franz, it cost $2.5 million alone to repave just one mile of 44th Avenue over the summer.

About $85,000 of car tab-fee revenue also was used to help install a sidewalk on 48th Avenue West.

A new traffic signal on Scriber Lake Road at 196th Street SW also was part of the to-do list when the city enacted the fee, however no fee revenue went toward the project.

“We were able to pick up a grant and things so we were able to not use TBD funds,” Project Manager David Mach said.

Adding it all up

Opponents point to the signal project as a reason to nix the tax increase, saying the city will find a way to pay for projects that need to be done.

“This is all about priorities,” Hikel said.

Some of what the sales tax increase would pay for is also on the car tab fee list, such as chip sealing and traffic signal upgrades.

The list of bigger capital projects that would be funded by Proposition 1 range from $5 million to $30 million and come to a total price tag of $60 million. The figures are estimates.

“Keep in mind the total project cost includes many funding sources and would or could include Transportation Benefit District funding also, but by and large have many different funding sources,” said Franz, the public works director. “On these size of projects, you’re rarely going to see a city doing them without a grant.”

Added all together, the revenue streams still probably won’t reach the grand total of the city’s to-do list, conceded Ingraham, the local broker.

“But it will certainly help, and it will help keep our streets serviceable,” he said.

Enough public input?

Earlier this year, Lynnwood spent $60,000 of its Transportation Benefit District money on a consultant to help educate the public on transportation needs and gauge support for a ballot measure.

There were open houses, informational tables and a $20,000 survey.

Unlike the Transportation Benefit District’s annual budgets or car tab fee, however, there were no public hearings. A review of agendas and minutes at the time council members voted to move forward with the ballot measure also show there was no built-in time for public comment.

Hikel has filed a claim in Snohomish County Superior Court alleging the Transportation Benefit District violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act. Don Gough, the former Lynnwood mayor who also is a lawyer, filed the claim on Hikel’s behalf.

“We really can’t comment on a pending litigation matter other than (to say) we’re reviewing the claims in the complaint and, on our initial review, they don’t appear to have merit,” city attorney Rosemary Larson said.

Washington Coalition for Open Government President Toby Nixon said an initial review of the rules governing Transportation Benefit Districts indicate the city probably didn’t violate any laws.

City Council President Loren Simmonds said all of the Transportation Benefit District’s meetings are open to the public, and that if he saw someone at a meeting he would simply add a public comment period to the agenda.

“Frankly, based on the way we structured it, we had far more input from the people in the community (through the outreach program) than we ever did from either a City Council meeting” or transportation benefit district meeting, Simmonds said. “Nobody comes,” he added.

The next Transportation Benefit District meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at City Hall, 19100 44th Ave. W., for an executive session to discuss the litigation. The district’s regular meeting of Oct. 13 was postponed until after the election; a new date has not yet been set.

Simmonds said council members have followed both logic and legal advice. Now it’s up to voters.

“That’s the ultimate input,” he said.

Transportation to-do

If Proposition 1 passes, it would add $4 million a year for 10 years to Lynnwood’s Transportation Benefit District coffers. The money would help pay for routine city programs, such as filling potholes and rebuilding old traffic signals. It also would pay for these capital building projects:

52nd Avenue W: Add turn lanes, new bicycle lanes, sidewalks, concrete curbs and gutters, and intersection improvements on 52nd Avenue W between 176th Street SW and 168th Street SW ($4 million)

36th Avenue W: Fully rebuild pavement and add new bicycle lanes, sidewalks, concrete curbs and gutters, and intersection improvements on 36th Avenue W between Maple Road and 164th Street SW ($10 million)

Poplar Way Bridge Extension: Build a new 750-foot bridge across I-5 between 196th Street SW and 33rd Avenue West/ Alderwood Mall Boulevard to help relieve congestion in Lynnwood’s City Center and mall area ($26 million)

196th Street SW: Add two additional lanes (one lane in each direction), center median, wider sidewalks, and landscaping to 196th Street SW between 48th Avenue W and 36th Avenue W ($16 million)

188th Street SW: Add turn lanes, new bicycle lanes, sidewalks, and concrete curbs and gutters on 188th Street SW between 60th Avenue W and 68th Avenue W ($4 million)