Tacoma braces for ‘diminished’ ability to repair streets after defeat of Prop 1
The Tacoma City Council is exploring next steps after voters appeared to have rejected a tax hike to raise money for street improvements and repairs in Tuesday’s special election.
In the second round of results posted since polls closed, 52.45% of voters had voted against the measure compared to the 47.55% who voted for it – with roughly 200 ballots left to count and a 24.61% voter turnout. In a statement issued Wednesday, the city said it’s concerned about maintaining the city’s infrastructure needs – though it understands the tighter budgets that Tacoma residents are likely contending with.
“Looking ahead, we anticipate that the level of service residents rely on will unfortunately be diminished over time as maintaining and upgrading our infrastructure becomes increasingly more challenging,” the statement reads.
Prop 1, if approved, would have been a permanent levy – whereas previous packages voters approved are on track to expire in December 2025 and February 2026.
The council is “actively exploring” next steps, including a potential revised measure that could come back to voters at a later date, according to the statement.
The measure, known as Streets Initiative II or Proposition 1, proposed increasing property taxes by 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value and increasing the utility-earnings tax by 2% for natural gas, electric and phone utilities – up from the 20 cents per $1,000 of assessed value and 1.5% utility-earnings tax hikes that voters last approved about 10 years ago.
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 1:36 PM.
