OLYMPIA — With Proposition 1 quickly fading from view, area leaders said Wednesday it’s time to talk about Snohomish, King and Pierce counties ending their road-building alliance and Sound Transit staying off the ballot for awhile.
“I’m going to pursue something here. I’m convinced in my mind we can make it work,” Snohomish County Councilman Gary Nelson said of setting up a countywide benefit district to pay for road improvements.
Snohomish County Councilman John Koster said it could lead to another measure on the ballot in 2008.
“This county has to fly solo. We have to put a plan out there to the voters and say ‘Do you want to do this?”’ he said.
The defeated Proposition 1 would have increased the sales tax and car tab fees in the three counties to finance a 20-year, $17.8 billion package of new roads and light rail expansion.
It combined separate improvement plans developed by Sound Transit and the three-county Regional Transportation Investment District.
Voters rejected the measure by large margins in each county. One reason, supporters said Wednesday was it had too many projects at too high a price and took too long to complete them.
Voters seemed overwhelmed by the size of the tax package, said Fred Walser, chairman of the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition. He campaigned for its passage because it contained $44 million to pay for a portion of a U.S. 2 bypass around Monroe
“The major problem with RTID was combining light-rail projects with road-improvement projects,” Walser said. “I don’t think people were ready to accept that.”
That’s why Nelson and Koster want the county to find its own solution for roads.
“To me, the public was willing to invest the dollars necessary for the road projects but they caught on real quickly to the lack of accountability in this measure,” Nelson said.
He suggested each county form its own transportation benefit districts to fix needs within their respective borders using such means as the sales tax or car tab fee for revenue. The state had barred this from happening until the three counties went to the ballot, which they have now done.
“What it means is you won’t have money going across the borders” between counties, Nelson said, adding he would continue to push this idea after he leaves office in January.
State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, said she’s always thought Snohomish County could do better on its own.
But she cautioned against any of the three counties moving too quickly before fully understanding the voters’ message.
“The counties got a ‘no’ vote and in some places and a ‘hell no’ vote, so they’ll need to look at it carefully,” she said.
Not every Snohomish County lawmaker is jumping on the benefit district idea.
“I think it’s way too early to decide if we should be going it alone or not,” Snohomish County Council chairman Dave Gossett said. “We need to step back and think about the next step.”
That’s exactly what Sound Transit leaders will begin doing at a meeting today.
“I’m not sure where we go from here. It’s hard to know what the public really thinks of this because so few people voted,” Joni Earl, Sound Transit’s chief executive, said election night.
One place is not back on a ballot until 2010, suggested Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon who serves on the Sound Transit Board of Directors.
Sound Transit’s “record is so blemished” from over a decade ago that to get rid of the doubt in voters’ minds, the agency must complete projects now so the public can see light rail in action.
Reardon is also interested in exploring a county-only option. He, Koster and Gossett all said the county can’t pay for the costly projects on I-5, Highway 9 and U.S. 2 included in the deposed Proposition 1.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara contributed to this report.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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