EDMONDS – The state Supreme Court’s recent upholding of Initiative 776 does nothing to change the plans of officials at the city of Edmonds, who had already resigned themselves to no longer receiving the tax money the initiative eliminated.
“We just assumed we’d never see it again,” said Mayor Gary Haakenson of the money that formerly came to the city from Snohomish County’s local option vehicle excise tax.
Initiative 776, approved by state voters in November 2002, eliminated local jurisdictions’ ability to levy the tax. The tax is perhaps best known for the fact that some of it has been used to finance Sound Transit. But most of it went to cities and counties to cover road improvement projects and maintenance.
The tax, levied by the county in the form of an annual $15 vehicle license fee, was distributed to cities by population. Edmonds had been receiving approximately $350,000 per year, officials said, which equaled roughly half of all the money Edmonds receives for its street construction fund. Over the five-year period from 2003 to 2008, the city is expected to lose more than $2.1 million, according to figures provided by the Association for Washington Cities (AWC).
In recent years the city had accelerated its street repaving program, which had fallen behind in the ’90s after the city had to spend a large chunk on the widening of Highway 99, officials have said. Prior to the passage of I-776, it had budgeted $500,000 for street repavings in 2003. It will wind up spending only $52,505. For 2004, Haakenson is proposing to budget $125,000.
The optimum industry standard for keeping roads in good condition is to repave them every 20 years, said city engineer Dave Gebert. With its recent push, the city was on a pace to attain a 30-plus year cycle, Gebert said. With the loss of the I-776 money, it’s now about a 60-year cycle “unless we can find additional revenues,” he said.
It isn’t just street overlays that have been affected. Numerous street-related projects throughout the city have been delayed or postponed indefinitely because of the loss of the local-option car tab fee (see related list).
The other sources for the street construction fund are the state gas tax, interest earnings, grants and mitigation fees, which to a large extent are beyond the city’s control to increase. For 2004 the city will begin charging an impact fee for new development that is expected to bring in $125,000, but that will go to street improvements related only to the development, said Duane Bowman, city development services director.
Haakenson said the city will work with other cities through the AWC to try to find more sources of revenue.
“We’re still working on trying to figure out what the ultimate solution’s going to be,” Bowman said. “The question is, how do you fund long-term road maintenance?”
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