Tacoma’s 10-year streets initiative is ending. Will taxpayers OK a permanent version?
Tacoma voters will be asked in April whether to support a second major initiative intended to improve city streets, following a 2015 tax package that raised nearly $400 million and will expire in a year.
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously authorized sending “Streets Initiative II” to the ballot in the April 22 special election to succeed the 10-year initiative that ends in December 2025.
“It’s more than just road maintenance; it’s about investing in the quality of life for every member of our community,” Mayor Victoria Woodards said in a statement prior to the vote.
The new streets initiative would increase utility-earnings tax by 2% for natural gas, electricity and phone, and bump property taxes by 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, according to the city. The existing initiative, which would be replaced, raised those taxes by 1.5% and 20 cents, respectively.
If approved, the typical Tacoma household would be expected to pay $2.13 more monthly on utility taxes and $6 more per month for property taxes, according to city Public Works director Ramiro Chavez.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Chavez called the new proposition “a critical measure to ensure the future safety, accessibility and quality of Tacoma’s streets and transportation infrastructure” and said it’s expected to raise roughly $25 million in its first year.
Unlike its predecessor, which had a decade shelf life, Streets Initiative II would be a permanent levy, according to city spokesperson Maria Lee.
City officials have lauded the expiring initiative, approved by voters in 2015, for transforming residential streets, including improvements to more than 6,000 residential blocks. The plan encompassed street resurfacing, pothole repairs, pedestrian-safety upgrades, school-crossing beacon installations and sidewalk enhancements, among other things, the city said. Nearly 60 capital projects were completed.
The tax package, which included a 0.1% sales tax increase, was initially expected to raise $175 million. That total was projected to reach nearly $200 million by the end of next year, Chavez had said. In all, the initiative generated $397 million, factoring in grant-matched funds and other dollars, according to the city.
Even so, only 24% of Tacoma residents were satisfied with arterial street conditions, according to a recent community survey cited by the city.
While Pavement Condition Index (PCI) scores for residential streets broadly increased over the past nine years, the streets initiative’s focus on neighborhoods resulted in a dramatic decline of heavier-trafficked main routes. The overall PCI, a 0-100 scoring and assessment tool used by the city, for residential streets increased from 61 to 68 as arterial roads dropped from 58 to 45, The News Tribune previously reported.
“While the 2015 initiative delivered measurable benefits, challenges remain,” Chavez said Tuesday.
Improvements to arterial roads — such as Portland Avenue and South Tacoma Way, connecting motorists to different parts of the city — would be a goal of the new streets initiative, according to Chavez.
“I think about the magnifying effect of how many more people this package will touch,” Council member John Hines said during Tuesday’s meeting.
Other priorities, according to Chavez, would be residential street maintenance to ensure progress doesn’t slip, safety improvements aligned with decreasing traffic-related deaths and supporting multiple modes of transportation.
The city also wants to prioritize projects in under-served neighborhoods, where 64% of the city’s highest-risk roads are per the city’s equity index, Chavez said.
Overall, he said, the city would consider broader design elements such as bike lanes, sidewalks and trees during a next iteration and not approach improvements from purely a road-condition standpoint.
“I really think this is an opportunity for us to not only invest in our roads, and like the physical piece of it, but in our communities and how people access things in our communities,” Council member Kristina Walker said during the meeting.
