How would you like to save 15 bucks a year? Heck, if you live in the urbanized I-5 corridor, you could save even more. Sounds hard to resist, you say. What’s the catch?
If you’re talking about Initiative 776, which would reduce vehicle-license fees to a flat $30, the catch for Snohomish County voters is that they’ll be shooting themselves in the foot.
Sponsored by initiative backer Tim Eyman, I-776 would repeal a $15 local-option fee collected in just four of the state’s 39 counties, including Snohomish County. It also would eliminate the voter-approved license fee that goes to Sound Transit, costing that agency 20 percent of its funding.
The primary target of this initiative clearly is Sound Transit, whose light-rail project has been scaled back as cost overruns have ballooned. On this score, Eyman’s group, Permanent Offense, makes a point that’s worth debating. It may well be that the region would be better off if the light-rail plan were scrapped altogether.
Trouble is, while aiming to sink Sound Transit, this initiative takes Snohomish County road projects down with it.
The local-option fee appears to be included so the initiative can pass judicial muster under the "single-subject rule," which bars initiatives from addressing more than one issue. In this case, initiative writers crafted the single-subject banner of "$30 tabs for everyone" by including the local-option fee along with the repeal of the Sound Transit fee.
Eliminating the $15 county fee would cost Snohomish County an estimated $79 million over 10 years. That money is dedicated strictly to road building and maintenance projects in this county, an area of obvious need. And the money isn’t likely to reappear elsewhere. With some 70 percent of the county budget earmarked for public safety, that kind of hole will be impossible to fill. If I-776 passes, what we’ll get is more traffic congestion right here at home.
Snohomish County also loses on the Sound Transit issue. Money collected here doesn’t go to light rail, it stays here to fund popular express bus service and the future commuter rail service, alternatives that keep more cars off the highway. I-776 would take about $95 million in Sound Transit funding away from Snohomish County.
I-776 is too broad and costs Snohomish County citizens too much. It’s bad public policy. Vote no.
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