This editorial board opposed Initiative 776, the measure that banned fees above $30 for auto licenses. We didn’t think voters in places like Spokane and Yakima should be able to reverse a decision Puget Sound voters made to tax themselves for transit improvements. We still don’t.
Alas, I-776 passed, and now it has been upheld by the state Supreme Court, which has final say in the matter. I-776 is the law.
Yet a legal question remains over whether Sound Transit, whose 0.3 percent motor vehicle excise tax was repealed by the initiative, must continue to collect that tax to pay off bonds already issued for light rail in King County. The Supreme Court didn’t rule on that issue.
More important than any legal issue at this point is trust. Voters have little of it these days in their public officials, as we saw last week when many incumbents were unseated and tax issues were rejected throughout the region. The public officials who sit on the Sound Transit board have an opportunity to restore some of that trust, and for the good of other important issues that will need voter support, they must seize it. Exploiting one more legal technicality isn’t a constructive path.
Sound Transit has more than enough money in reserve funds to pay off its bond holders. Doing so is the only way for the agency to move ahead credibly. Continuing to collect the tax under these circumstances and in this climate of distrust will only make it harder for other important money issues to pass — issues like a regional transportation tax to fund needed highway and transit improvements, and possible efforts next year to create dedicated funding sources for K-12 and higher education.
King County Executive Ron Sims, the chairman of the Sound Transit board, has suggested that the agency could continue collecting the tax far into the future. That seems to ignore the letter and intent of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which is unacceptable. Voters won’t stand for it, and they’ll take it out on the next funding issue that comes their way.
The Sound Transit board needs to sit down and reprioritize its projects within the financial realities created by I-776. The law seems to require it, and the rebuilding of voter trust demands it.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
