Snohomish County Council approves new $20 car tab fee

Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 13, 2026

EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council voted 3-2 to approve a new $20 car tab fee on Wednesday to help close a $9 million Public Works deficit.

Council members Megan Dunn, Sam Low and Strom Peterson voted for the vehicle licensing fee; Nate Nehring and Jared Mead voted against.

The fee will generate an estimated $6 million per year for the county road fund and will be charged to all new and renewed vehicle registrations in unincorporated Snohomish County starting six months after County Executive Dave Somers signs the ordinance into law, which he plans to do later this month, according to Public Works spokesperson Kira Cox.

If he does, the fee would begin before the end of February 2027.

This new revenue allows Public Works to retain 34 staff positions, maintain 14 ongoing construction projects and save $66 million in grant funding, which requires a portion to be matched by the county, Director Kelly Snyder said in a May interview.

On May 13, the County Council approved the creation of a Transportation Benefit District, the structure needed to collect the revenue.

The department may also have to cut spending to completely close the $9 million deficit, she said at the time. However, Public Works currently has 74 positions unfilled, has already reduced all operating costs by $10 million per year and has delayed $100 million in projects, Snyder said.

To help alleviate some of these deficiencies, Public Works would have to chip away at its $30 million structural deficit, Mead said during the Wednesday council meeting, which is partly why he voted against the car tab fee.

“I believe that we have a massive deficit and hole to fill with our Public Works Department,” he said. “This ordinance doesn’t come close to correcting that.”

There are other revenue sources that could fix the problem as a whole, Mead said. One is a potential road levy lid lift that, if approved by voters, would allow the levy to raise more than 1%, but would have to be considered alongside the council’s county budget deliberations in September, he said.

“I fear passing this today could actually make it more difficult for us to accomplish the bigger tool that will fix this problem,” Mead said. “I completely believe our Public Works workforce and our director who have said that this is a dire situation than the $6 million is needed in the short term — but I found it, and I have an amendment to propose during the budget that would fill that need for the year to allow us to get to an ultimate voter-decided tool.”

The shortfall is a result of reduced gas tax revenue and the county road levy’s yearly 1% increase not keeping pace with construction inflation, which has been increasing 30-40% each year, Snyder said in May.

“I think it’s important that this is considered today and move forward for at least these next couple of years,” Dunn said during the Wednesday meeting. “It will take a lot of time and effort to consider a levy lid lift, which is another funding source, and we’re not prepared to have that election immediately.”

The risk of losing federal funding and the current employees that would need to be let go were reason enough to support the car tab fee, she said.

Of the 20-30 people who spoke during public comment, none spoke against the new car tab fee.

“My engines weigh 44,000 pounds. My ladder trucks weigh 77,000 pounds,” said Todd Anderson, South County Fire assistant chief. “I’m on a 15-year replacement cycle… If the roads aren’t maintained and they’re not in good condition, that will force us to even look to decrease that cycle even more, which adversely affects our taxpayers.”

A 0.1% sales tax to fund the roads fund, proposed by Low, was also on the schedule Wednesday for a public hearing. However, the council voted to postpone the public hearing on the tax for further deliberation, as recommended by Snyder.

“It just needs additional work,” she said in an interview after the meeting. “We had evaluated it and what we understand to be the case at this moment is that there are some legal issues that still need to be ironed out.”

Public Works considered a sales tax initially instead of a car licensing fee but the latter would bring in more money and allow the department to maintain current operations, Snyder said.

“[It’s] definitely a sense of relief,” she said. “Making sure that we can maintain the levels of service that we have today for our maintenance and operations, that’s really huge.”

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; Bluesky: @btayokay.bsky.social