Transit gets no help from Legislature
JORDAN SCHRADER; Staff writer
Lawmakers may have missed their last chance this year to bail out struggling transit agencies.
Pierce Transit and its Snohomish County counterpart, Community Transit, say they need new sources of money to stave off cuts to bus service. They want authority to levy a $20 fee on vehicles in their districts without voter approval, or a bigger fee if voters permit.
House Democrats mounted a last-minute effort to temporarily give them that power, which counties and cities have now. But it stalled Monday after pushback from the Senate.
Rep. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, said he hopes for better luck next year, when the crisis hitting transit agencies will be more obvious. “I think that will help create urgency for more action,” he said.
Pierce Transit has threatened to eliminate local bus service in much of the county starting in 2012 if it can’t find new money by then. And Liias said Community Transit’s board has decided to suspend Sunday and holiday bus service starting this summer.
Pierce County’s agency, at least, has one potential source of funds: a three-tenths of a percent sales tax increase. But the hike would have to win voter approval. Given that the Legislature is considering its own statewide sales tax increase, Pierce Transit has to consider how likely voters would be to agree, said Jessyn Farrell, a consultant to the nine-member transit board.
“Because of a very murky political environment, it would be great to have a couple of choices,” she said.
It’s not that Pierce Transit wants to do an end-run around voters, the agency says. Farrell said the board would be “more inclined” to put a car-tab fee to voters than impose it unilaterally, even if it had that authority.
Pierce Transit’s sales tax revenue, which makes up about 70 percent of its $119 million operating budget, has been in decline since 2007. Despite recent budget cuts, the agency projects a $68 million shortfall by 2012.
To cope, transit officials have floated the idea of eliminating bus service in less densely populated areas, such as in East Pierce County, Northeast Tacoma, Gig Harbor and Steilacoom.
Lawmakers who want to pave the way for new vehicle fees are thumbing their nose at voters who have repeatedly said that car tabs should cost no more than $30, said Tim Eyman, who sponsored those initiatives.
Bad enough, Eyman said, that city and county boards chosen by voters have the power. Transit agencies shouldn’t be added to the list, he said.
“Talk about total, complete insulation from voter accountability, by allowing an unelected bureaucrat to make this decision,” he said.
Pierce Transit’s board is made up of elected officials. They come from around the county, however, and voters don’t put them on the transit board.
The House added the new car-fee authority as an amendment to a Senate bill, but the Senate on Monday declined to accept the House’s changes. Liias said he would reluctantly agree to withdraw his amendment so the bill – an unrelated measure sought by Spokane-area legislators – can win approval before Thursday’s scheduled end to the legislative session.
Jordan Schrader: 360-786-1826
jordan.schrader@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
