OLYMPIA — Backers of a multibillion-dollar road and transit measure won a high court challenge without a fight Thursday, ensuring that the issue will go before voters in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties in November.
Spokane attorney Steve Eugster had secured a hearing in the state Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the $17.8 billion proposal pushed by Sound Transit and the Regional Transportation Investment District.
But a little more than three hours before the scheduled 1:30 p.m. start, Eugster filed a handwritten note with the court stating his intent to withdraw the appeal.
Justices, who were meeting at the time the note arrived, voted unanimously to dismiss the case, said Chief Justice Gary Alexander.
“We’re very pleased. We were confident we would prevail in the Supreme Court, but it’s always nice to have the victory in hand,” said Paul Lawrence, an investment district attorney who had worked on the case.
Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, who serves on the Sound Transit board of directors, said Thursday’s outcome ensures residents will be heard.
“This addresses the transportation needs of this region and I believe the voters have a right to vote on it,” he said.
The Roads and Transit tax package calls for $7 billion in spending on roads and highways in the three-county region. A total of $1.5 billion would be earmarked for Snohomish County projects.
The package also would spend $10.8 billion on expanding light rail throughout the region, including $1.45 billion to extend it to south Everett.
To pay for the work, sales and motor vehicle excise taxes would rise within the boundaries of Sound Transit and the Regional Transportation Investment District, also known as RTID.
The proposed taxes would add 6 cents to a $10 purchase, and $80 to license tabs for every $10,000 of a car’s value. In other words, a $20,000 vehicle would carry a $160 Roads and Transit tab increase.
Eugster wanted the measure pulled from the ballot. Court papers indicate he considered it illegal for the two independent entities to combine into one measure their separate plans for tax increases and construction projects.
Eugster did not return phone calls or reply to e-mails for comment.
Aaron Toso, a spokesman for the Keep Washington Rolling coalition pushing for passage of the transportation proposal, said Eugster’s last minute pullout validated the Legislature’s decision last year requiring a single ballot proposal.
Thursday’s nonevent leaves one unresolved legal fight involving the transportation measure.
Citizens Against RTID, an opposition group formed by the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club, is suing to revise how the measure is explained on the ballot.
The group filed a lawsuit in King County contending the proposed explanation does not accurately describe what projects are funded, when they will be done and how long higher taxes will be collected.
“This is a big tax package,” said Mike O’Brien, chairman of the chapter that has 28,000 members including 17,000 in the three counties. “We think voters are getting very little information.”
Reardon said the ballot text sufficiently describes for voters what they are being asked to act on.
Specific data on projects and funding is available now online and from the two transportation agencies, he said.
“Every voter in the region will have the opportunity to look at the information,” he said.
A hearing on the arguments published in voter pamphlets is planned today in Seattle. Next Friday is a hearing on the explanatory language printed on ballots.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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