King County and Seattle officials want to speed up light rail to Seattle’s Northgate neighborhood – and they may look to Snohomish County for help.
If they do, County Executive Aaron Reardon isn’t feeling generous.
Sound Transit staff last week floated a proposal to move $350 million to $400 million in future tax revenue from Snohomish County south. The money is contingent on voters in Sound Transit’s taxing district approving a half-cent sales tax hike in November 2007.
With that money, Sound Transit could speed up light rail to Northgate by nine years.
King County officials asked Sound Transit staff to make the proposal.
Reardon, one of three Sound Transit board members from Snohomish County, would rather see that money spent on getting light rail to Everett.
“I want the dollars raised in Snohomish County to support Snohomish County transportation investments,” Reardon said.
Everett Councilman and Sound Transit Vice Chairman Mark Olson is willing to shift dollars south, but only if there’s a guarantee that they come back to Snohomish County.
The half-cent sales tax hike, the most aggressive of three tax hike scenarios Sound Transit is considering for the ballot, would generate about $1 billion in Snohomish County over 20 years.
Most of that money is set to build light rail from 185th Street NE, the last stop in King County, to Lynnwood.
If the Northgate extension isn’t sped up, the rest of tax revenue collected in Snohomish County – $350 million to $400 million – would go to lay the groundwork for extending light rail to Everett.
Northgate overdue
Sound Transit officials had hoped to get light rail to Northgate during the first phase of Sound Transit, which is winding down now.
But they ran out of money.
The language in the 1996 Sound Move ballot measure stated that getting to Northgate would be the top priority if there were a phase two of Sound Transit, mainly because there are 50,000 daily riders waiting to step aboard as soon as it opens so they can escape I-5’s clogged lanes.
If voters say yes to Sound Transit’s ballot measure next year, King County would have the money it needs to extend light rail to the last stop before the county line, but the Northgate extension would not carry its first rider until 2027.
That’s too slow, said Ryan Bayne, director of intergovernmental relations for King County Executive Ron Sims.
“(Sims) feels it’s paramount to get to Northgate as quickly as possible in order to ensure a strong vote in King County,” Bayne said.
He said Seattle voters might not be pleased by “a ballot measure that has the Northgate extension delayed to 2027 when they’re taking a vote in 2007. (The year) 2018 seems a little more plausible, a little more real to the voters.”
Heeding that cry for help, Sound Transit staff presented at a regular meeting of the agency’s board members a scenario that would get light rail to Northgate by 2018 instead of 2027 by shifting the Snohomish County money south.
Under the scenario, Snohomish County taxpayers would pay $350 million to $400 million to build a 40-block segment of light rail in King County from 145th Street NE to 185th Street NE.
Without having to pay for that segment, King County saves the money it needs to fast-track light rail to Northgate.
Reardon said Snohomish County voters won’t support a new version of Sound Transit if the extra $350 million to $400 million isn’t used to do preliminary design work for light rail from Lynnwood to Everett, Reardon said.
Starting on land acquisition now “will save our taxpayers millions of dollars,” he said.
It will also give them hope that extending light rail to Everett will actually happen in their lifetime.
“It’s one thing to promise the voters that we may have light rail, it’s another to buy right of way and start design,” Reardon said.
Bayne said Sims agrees that pulling money out of Snohomish County may not be the best idea.
“We believe this is going to be problematic not only with the Snohomish County board members, but potentially with Snohomish County voters,” he said. “The King County executive, despite the fact that he doesn’t represent Snohomish County, is worried about it.
“There needs to be a little bit of going back to the drawing board,” Bayne said.
Looking for a solution
Sound Transit staff is again crunching the numbers, trying to come up with a scenario where the Northgate extension can be built sooner, light rail to Lynnwood is not compromised and a minimal amount of Snohomish County tax dollars are spent in King County, said Geoff Patrick, a Sound Transit spokesman.
“We’re in a mode where things are fairly fluid,” Patrick said. “What the board is doing right now is looking at a variety of options.”
Olson, the Everett councilman, said Snohomish County needs to remember that Sound Transit is building a regional system, one that Snohomish County residents will use in King County.
“We’ve got to stop looking so parochially all the time,” Olson said. “We’ve got to start in Seattle.”
Olson said Snohomish County residents would use light rail when it gets to Northgate, choosing to park there and then ride a train into downtown rather than fighting traffic and paying to park.
“(Northgate) is the No. 1 traffic choke point between Everett and Seattle every weekday morning,” Olson said. “If we can relieve congestion in Northgate, you don’t think it would a little bit smoother for us Snohomish County commuters to get into Seattle to our places of employment?”
The focus has to be spending every extra dollar on getting light rail north to Everett, said Edmonds Councilman Richard Marin, Snohomish County’s third Sound Transit board member.
“It has to be eminently clear to the people in this county that it’s coming to Everett,” Marin said. “We’re rock solid together that we’re gong to take this all the way to Everett. I intend to ride it to Everett during my lifetime.”
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@ heraldnet.com.
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