A majority of the Snohomish County Council voted Wednesday to form a special taxing district to pay for road projects, but promised not to impose $20 car-tab fees — at least not for now.
County Council members on both s
ides of the 3-2 vote did agree that it’s a bad time for tax increases. The special district would only include unincorporated Snohomish County.
“I believe, and I think all of my colleagues up here also agree, that this is not the time for a tax increase with the economy the way it is,” said County Councilman Dave Gossett, who voted for the district. “At the same time, when I go out and knock on doors, there’s nothing that people talk to me more about than traffic and doing something about it. And that means you’ve got to build road projects.”
For Gossett, the way to do that is creating the Transportation Benefit District that he and his colleagues approved Wednesday. The special taxing district, once it takes effect later this year, would be governed by the five members of the County Council. They would have the authority to impose a $20 car-tab fee without going to voters for approval. That’s a step the cities of Lynnwood and Edmonds have taken, but one most county leaders said they strongly oppose.
County Executive Aaron Reardon, for one, has said he’s against any new taxes. Reardon also said he wouldn’t stand in the way if the County Council wants to form a Transportation Benefit District.
About a half dozen people spoke against car-tab fees at Wednesday’s hearing.
County Farm Bureau member Ty Costa, of Snohomish, said the annual fee would unfairly penalize farmers and small businesses that have to license more than one vehicle. Since the district would cover unincorporated areas, he said it would put an added burden on people living in rural parts of the county who already are struggling.
“You can’t keep on milking dry cows out there, and that’s what you have to learn,” he told the council.
Engineer Bill Lider of Lynnwood repeated a call for the county to stop maintaining the Mountain Loop Highway as well as Index-Galena Road. Ending county maintenance on roads through U.S. Forest Service land, Lider argued, would save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Esther Van Der Berg, who lives near Arlington, asked. “Do we really need another bureaucracy?”
Anti-tax activist Tim Eyman, of Mukilteo, reminded council members that Washington’s voters tried to restrict car-tab fees to $30 in a 1999 referendum. Since then, the flat fee has crept up. He referred to a county Transportation Benefit District as a “gateway drug” and a “Pandora’s box” that the council shouldn’t open.
Council members Gossett, Brian Sullivan and Stephanie Wright voted to form the district. Councilmen John Koster and Council Chairman Dave Somers voted against it.
“Anyway you cut it, this is a precursor to a tax increase,” Koster said.
While the area’s roads and bridges need work, Koster doesn’t believe the transportation district is the right way to get it done.
Somers largely agreed with Koster, calling the district “a lot of staff time and a lot of planning for naught, in my opinion.”
A countywide transportation district would have been interesting, Somers said, but most cities declined to participate. A district covering only unincorporated areas will set up an unfair funding mechanism where people in rural areas end up paying for work on urban roads, he said. That’s important for Somers and Koster, because their council districts include most of the county’s rural areas to the east and north.
Gossett proposed that the council revisit next year whether to impose a tax or let voters decide on any increases.
Sullivan and Wright promised to oppose any $20 tab fees.
“I just don’t see it as a Pandora’s box if we make the commitment that it has to go to the voters first,” Sullivan said.
Wright said she took a similar approach while serving on the Lynnwood City Council before being appointed to her county job. She supported Lynnwood forming the district but voted against the $20 fee, which the city ended up passing.
With a Transportation Benefit District in place, voters can approve a maximum of $100 in extra yearly car-tab fees. Also with voter approval, the district can seek road tolls or to raise sales tax. The money must be used for a specific list of transportation projects that the council has approved.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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