Rail proponents eye new STA money

Local light-rail proponents are eyeing a recently passed Spokane Transit Authority sales-tax increase as a possible funding source for a proposed new rapid transit system.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the 0.3 percent sales tax ($3 on a $1,000 purchase), but were never told during the campaign that part of the money might be used for light rail.

“I think it’s outrageous,” sales tax opponent Joel Crosby said Thursday when told of the possible use of the money. “I think the whole campaign was deceptive and this is the height of it.”

“It was not part of the conversation or the initiative,” acknowledged STA spokeswoman Molly Myers, who added that using the money for light rail is an option, but not a done deal.

“I don’t want to give people the impression that there was some sort of sleight of hand going on. There wasn’t,” Myers said.

“The reason we were quiet during the election is we didn’t want to confuse the election. It was about STA, not light rail,” said Spokane Regional Light Rail Project Manager K.C. Traver.

But a report on potential funding sources for a local rapid transit system, commissioned by the Light Rail Steering Committee and completed just prior to the vote, included $4 million of the tax proceeds annually in almost every scenario. It wasn’t presented to the STA board until Thursday.

It’s anticipated that the tax increase will raise $18 million for STA each year. The agency was facing a shortfall of roughly $14 million to $15 million.

Several STA board members said it’s still unclear whether they will pursue that money, or even build a light rail system. They added that voters would have to approve using the money for light rail.

“They’ll have their say. They’ll have their chance,” said STA board chairwoman and Spokane County Commissioner Kate McCaslin.

Other funding sources for a possible light-rail system cited in the report include federal transportation money and a possible port district funded by increased property taxes.

As for the sales tax, STA board members acknowledged this spring that a 0.3 percent increase was more than they needed to ward off cuts to the bus system. But the state only allows ballot issues seeking increases in increments of a full tenth of 1 percent, and 0.2 percent wouldn’t have been enough to maintain STA’s existing system.

When the board decided to place the tax increase on the May ballot, some STA board members speculated that they might eventually reduce the tax to 0.2 percent if enough reserves built up at the higher level.

No one discussed using the extra money for light rail.

It’s estimated that a local rapid transit system would cost anywhere from $70 million for high-speed buses in special lanes between downtown Spokane and Liberty Lake, to $600 million for a complete light rail line between the two cities. There are also multiple options in between.

Light rail studies have been going on for the past four years at a cost of about $6 million in mostly federal funds. Committee members will soon move toward choosing a preferred alternative for public approval. The soonest such a system could be up and running would be 2010.

Depending on the option chosen, the funding report suggests that voters could be asked to approve an additional 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent sales tax increase. That’s on top of STA’s permanent 0.3 percent allocation and the 0.3 percent that voters recently approved.

Voters will get another chance to vote on the second three-tenths because of a sunset clause that will retire that tax in four years.

“I think to talk about funding (light rail) at this point in time, in light of the sunset clause coming up in 2008, I think we’re sending the public the wrong message,” said STA board member Dick Denenny.

Back in 2002, a 0.3 percent sales tax for transit narrowly failed despite warnings of severe public transportation cuts without the funding.

STA officials then infuriated many in the community by announcing after the tax was defeated that the agency had only enough money in its reserves to keep the system running at the same level for another 18 months.

Public transit proponents worked hard to erase skepticism about the agency and usher passage of the tax in May.

Traver acknowledged that some in the community may feel that even considering using part of this year’s passed tax receipts for light rail is a betrayal of campaign promises. But he said he hoped the public wouldn’t feel that way.

This community needs to be looking at light rail now, not later when it will cost a lot more, said McCaslin.

“If we do things now, and do them right, 20 years from now we’ll never experience the kind of congestion Seattle has now,” McCaslin said.