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Loan For Street Projects Faces Council Local Gas Tax Increase Could Repay It, If It Gets On Ballot And Voters Approve

By Kristina Johnson kristinaj@spokesman.com

Spokane’s crumbling streets can’t wait any longer for a dollar windfall.

So officials likely will head to the bank for a short-term loan.

“We can’t let them deteriorate any further,” said Deputy City Manager Pete Fortin.

The City Council tonight will consider borrowing about $2.6 million to fix five of the most pockmarked and pitted streets.

Securing a bank loan is a last-ditch solution born of repeated disappointments.

Spokane voters turned down a $37.5 million street bond last fall. The state Legislature last spring walked away from plans to send more money for streets to cities and counties.

And Spokane County commissioners still haven’t committed to putting a 2.3-cent-per-gallon local gas tax increase before voters in November.

Commissioner Kate McCaslin pulled the proposal off the agenda in June, saying she wanted to rewrite the ballot language.

She was on vacation last week, but Commissioner John Roskelley said he thinks the item should resurface on an agenda this month. “My last word on this from Commissioner McCaslin was that it was a go,” Roskelley said.

The city would like to use an increase in local gas tax money to pay off the loan, said Mayor Jack Geraghty. Officials also are hoping state legislators will be more generous next year than they were this year.

If both the gas tax and more legislative dollars fall through, the city would have to use general fund dollars to repay the loan.

The proposal calls for the city to take out a bank loan for 12 to 18 months. A short-term loan is preferable to a bond because of its lower interest rate - about 4 percent for the loan, 6 percent for the bond.

A briefing for the council starts at 3:30 p.m. in the lower-level conference room of City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TAKING IT TO THE STREETS If the council approves a proposal to borrow $2.6 million, five streets are likely to be repaved this summer. They are: Monroe Street from Maxwell to Garland avenues, $443,000; Hamilton from Trent Avenue to North Foothills Drive, $514,000; Thor/Freya from Sprague to Eighth avenues, $290,000; Division Street from Fourth to Seventh avenues, $115,000; Grand Boulevard, Eighth to 29th avenues, $1.232 million.

This sidebar appeared with the story: TAKING IT TO THE STREETS If the council approves a proposal to borrow $2.6 million, five streets are likely to be repaved this summer. They are: Monroe Street from Maxwell to Garland avenues, $443,000; Hamilton from Trent Avenue to North Foothills Drive, $514,000; Thor/Freya from Sprague to Eighth avenues, $290,000; Division Street from Fourth to Seventh avenues, $115,000; Grand Boulevard, Eighth to 29th avenues, $1.232 million.