Bus-tax backers leery of light rail

The campaign slogan was “Buses Yes,” not “Light Rail Yes.”

Now many of the people who worked this spring to save local bus service from drastic cuts are worried about recent suggestions that part of a voter-approved sales tax increase for the Spokane Transit Authority might be used to build a light rail system.

Concerned about their own credibility and that citizen cynicism about STA might sink the tax when it comes up in four years for another vote, some tax supporters say the STA Board needs to be clear it won’t use newly raised tax dollars for light rail.

“That wasn’t what we understood that STA was going to do. I expected them to continue exploring light rail, but not to shift any of the tax money to building or designing it,” said Dennis Antonellis, president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union. “We have a problem here.”

Back in May voters agreed to raise the local sales tax by .3 percent – 3 cents on a $10 purchase. It is expected to raise $18 million a year.

Voters were told that if they didn’t approve the measure, bus service would be cut by 40 percent.

The Spokane Regional Light Rail Steering Committee, a group studying the possibilities for rapid transit in Spokane, commissioned a report on funding sources for such a system which suggests that about $4 million a year from the sales-tax money could be used for light rail purposes.

“Some folks have come to us with the concern that they feel like they’ve been betrayed,” said Linda Schappals-McClain, executive director of the Coalition of Responsible Disabled, a group that volunteered with the tax campaign.

“Instead of putting their energy into light rail, we’d like to see them put more energy into expanding their service into outlying areas where some disabled people live.”

The light rail committee is studying possible rapid transit alternatives between downtown Spokane and Liberty Lake, but has yet to settle on a proposal or even decide if it will pursue building a system at all.

But the Spokane Alliance, a united group of local churches and labor groups that worked to get the tax passed, wants to make sure that light rail discussions don’t hurt the existing bus system.

“The leadership of the Alliance is dead set against using the funds from this .3 percent for light rail,” said Alliance leader Tom Robinson.

The money couldn’t be used for light rail without a public vote, said KC Traver, Spokane Regional Light Rail project manager.

Even if it could, $4 million a year for the next four years wouldn’t be enough to fund bonds to build a light-rail project, Traver said. Voters might even be asked to approve an additional .1 percent to .3 percent increase for a rapid transit project.

“Personally I support light rail, but that’s not what we said to people when we went out canvassing,” said Alliance leader Austin DePaolo, who added that a public vote on using any of the sales-tax money for light rail now, or ever, is essential.

Light Rail Steering Committee Chairwoman Phyllis Holmes called the recent outcry over the funding study part of Spokane’s tendency toward “cynicism and conspiracy theories.”

Greg Falk, chairman of Save Our Transit, the group organized to promote the tax issue, said he doesn’t have a problem with tax money unnecessary for bus operations being used for light rail in the future.

“There just seems to be so much mistrust and second-guessing in our community. I’m surprised, but kind of not surprised that there’s so much worry about this,” he said.

But Robinson said that the STA Board needs to pay attention to public sentiment.

“I genuinely believe that STA does have a different culture down there right now. But I also think that when things like this come out about the light rail, they need to understand that people’s perceptions are their reality,” he said. “Whenever something like this happens, it sets you back three or four steps for every step forward.”

Meanwhile, an STA proposal to limit the amount of money it holds in reserve and require the tax be rolled back if too much money accumulates in the reserve account has gone nowhere.

Such an accumulation is a real possibility. Board members said at the time they asked for the tax increase that only a .25 percent increase was necessary, but that the state prohibits them from collecting in increments other than .1 percent.

Several board members suggested that if reserves hit a designated level, the tax could be lowered by .1 percent. But the proposed change to STA’s bylaws has since been watered down. Rather than calling for a reduction in the tax if reserves get too high, it now only calls for public hearings.

STA board member and Liberty Lake Councilman Brian Sayrs drafted the original proposal, but has since set it aside because he didn’t agree with the changes other board members wanted.

“I lost interest. We already have budget hearings. This doesn’t hold STA to a higher level of accountability,” Sayrs said.

But he added that while he doesn’t want STA to ever build up the large reserves it once had, he doesn’t think the tax level should ever be rolled back by .1 percent. The money should be used instead to improve service.

It’s too soon to even assume there will be more money than is necessary, said STA Board member and Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley.

“I think we need a year to rotate through before we find out exactly where our finances are and where they’re going to be in the future,” Roskelley said.

Members of the Spokane Alliance say they will continue to push STA for openness and accountability.

“It’s not something that stops after the election,” said DePaolo.