Higher car tab fees — at least $20 more a year — are on the table in Snohomish County as elected officials mull how to fix potholes and build more roads to deal with traffic.
The County Council wouldn’t even need to go to the ballot. State law says the failure of the roads-and-transit measure in November opened up a way for individual counties to approve a tax hike.
Talks are under way over whether to impose the tax. A special meeting of the County Council and some city mayors is planned at 2 p.m. today; no action is expected.
County councilmen aren’t sure which way to go, Councilman Mike Cooper said.
“We’ve got some big decisions to make,” Cooper said.
A decision must be reached by May 22 to form a countywide transportation improvement district. To move ahead, the County Council also would need signed agreements from several local city councils.
If 12 of the county’s cities sign up, representing 75 percent of the population, then county officials can create a countywide transportation improvement district.
The county has received at least a dozen letters of interest from cities representing about 90 percent of the population. “It’s a straw vote,” county Public Works director Steve Thomsen said. “They’re not saying they’ll sign an interlocal agreement, but they want to talk more.”
The car tab fee would raise an estimated $12 million a year, or up to $130 million, if the county opted to borrow money against future tax collections.
To raise $1.2 billion over decades, the county has the option of asking voters to approve additional measures for even higher car tab fees — up to $100 a year — and higher sales and property taxes. Thomsen said the county isn’t aiming for the bigger basket of tax increases: “The path we’re going down now is just the $20 license fee.”
If the County Council doesn’t vote by May 22, the $20 annual car tab tax can later be approved by individual cities and by the county for unincorporated areas.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said he’s open to exploring the transportation taxing district but wants to understand how much money cities would receive and what projects would be eligible.
“The jury’s still out for me, but I’m certainly willing to look and see what is available,” Stephanson said. “The cloud over all of this for every municipality in every county is the worsening economic climate.”
There’s no project list yet, but the $2 billion in road projects from last fall’s ballot measure is a good place to start, officials said.
The $20 annual fee doesn’t raise the kind of cash needed for regional roadwork, such as more lanes on Highway 9, and safety improvements on U.S. 2 and a wider trestle to Everett, Cooper said. No one is racing to hike sales and property taxes to raise the kind of money needed for the big projects, Cooper said.
The county will continue talks with cities, County Council chairman Dave Somers said. “There’s probably a 50-50 chance that we’ll head down this pathway and implement the transportation benefit district approach,” he said.
Cities also would need to back the tax increase to bear some of the political fallout the County Council would face from raising taxes, especially car tab fees that already were repealed and capped by voters, Cooper said.
County leaders want to hear from the mayors, Cooper said. “We have to make a decision soon about whether or not to move forward, at least have a conversation. Right now, council members are all over the place,” he said.
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