Bond Issue Paves Way For Good Intentions Officials Make Case For Road Funding; City’s Share Of Gas Tax Down From ‘91
No one argues the fact that Spokane’s streets are in rotten condition. Debate starts when talk shifts to how to pay for repairs.
Like other Washington cities, Spokane is struggling to maintain its roads as dollars dry up. While motorists are jarred by potholes left behind by a harsh winter, the truth is hundreds of miles of roads need complete facelifts - not just patching.
“It’s cheaper to fix the streets than it is to fix your car,” says Irv Reed, the city’s director of planning and engineering services.
“Enough is enough,” says Jonathan Swanstrom, a Spokane resident and frequent spending critic.
“Property taxes have gone up double the cost of inflation, and I don’t see any real belt-tightening at the city.”
On Monday, Reed will ask the City Council to consider putting a bond issue before voters that could cost the average homeowner anywhere from $27 to $146 a year.
Reed wants between $15 million and $45 million. No matter the price, the city faces a battle to get the bond passed, Reed says, but he’s out of options.
Money from other sources has vanished. Other ways to pay for street upkeep - a utility tax, a local gas tax, an added motor vehicle fee - were shot down by courts, voters and county commissioners.
“We need to save our streets,” Reed says. “Outside funds are just not available.”
For years, Spokane relied on state gas taxes to pay for street repaving, but those dollars have fallen, says Ken Stone, city finance director.
Stone explains it this way: The state tacks a 23-cent tax onto each gallon sold. It’s a flat tax that doesn’t jump or fall when the price per gallon fluctuates.
The state divides gas tax revenue into three pots: one for the state, one for counties and one for cities. The size of the pots barely has changed over the years, but for individual cities there’s a catch. With at least five new municipalities forming in the past few years, the city money gets chopped even finer.
“Every time a new city forms, we get less money,” says Stone.
In fact, last year the city received less in gas-tax revenues than it did five years ago, from $2.96 million in 1995 to $2.9 million in 1991.
At the same time, costs have gone up, Stone says. Even if the state gas-tax dollars didn’t drop, Spokane still would be falling behind on street preservation.
Reed estimates the city needs to spend about $6.5 million each year on repaving. Because the money wasn’t there, the roads got worse.
“With the bond, we could get rid of a backlog of problems,” he says. “After that, $6.5 million would help us stay caught up.”
There’s almost no money in the transportation department’s $11.4 million annual spending plan for resurfacing. About $3.5 million of that goes for pothole repair, $1.8 million for street cleaning, $1.1 million for ice and snow removal, and $1 million for traffic signals. The rest is spent on signs, parking meters and bridges.
In the past, money from state and federal taxpayers helped with upkeep, Reed says. Those dollars have been redirected to new road projects.
Spokane isn’t alone in the struggle to keep its roads in good shape.
“Street conditions are not good,” says Gary Wheeler, Tacoma’s street maintenance manager. “It’s getting the attention of public officials that there needs to be an infusion of funds.”
Tacoma’s maintenance budget has “stayed flat” since 1992, while labor and material costs increased, Wheeler says. “Everything’s going the wrong way as far as street repair goes.”
If Spokane and Tacoma have it bad, Seattle has it worse.
The Seattle City Council adopted a street utility tax in 1992 that the state Supreme Court last year ruled unconstitutional. The city has to refund $12.2 million to taxpayers - and find a way to pay for street repairs.
Laura Gilbert of Seattle’s transportation division says her city also is looking at a street bond, but not this year because of other city-sponsored ballot measures.
Meanwhile, Seattle managers - like those in many Washington cities - hope the state Legislature does something to save city streets in 1997. “The state needs to get additional funding to local jurisdictions,” Gilbert says.
Spokane taxpayers approved a $15 million bond for street upkeep in 1987. About 108 miles of city streets out of a total 804 were resurfaced with that money, Stone says.
“We actually resurfaced more than we planned,” he says, adding the last project on Ray Street actually was bid block-by-block until the money ran out.
While that money largely was directed to residential streets, money from a new bond would go mainly to arterials, Reed says.
Residents will finish paying off the old bond issue in 1997. If they go for a new street bond, there’s a chance the city would roll the old bond into the new one so that residents don’t get a double whammy next year.
Spokane property owners pay $4.50 per $1,000 of valuation to the city. About 29 cents of that goes to pay off the ‘87 street bond. A new bond could range anywhere from 27 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $1.46, depending on the tack the council takes.
Reed is offering the council several options, ranging from a $15 million bond to a $45 million bond, with repayment ranging from five to 10 years.
The options affect the cost to taxpayers.
A $15 million bond repaid over five years would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $27 a year. A $45 million bond repaid over 10 years would cost that same homeowner about $83 annually.
The council also must decide when to put the issue to voters, as soon as September or as late as March 1997.
Even if the council chooses the highest option - a $45 million bond - there’s another $150 million worth of general transportation needs on the city’s wish list, Reed says.
“This bond issue is only dealing with preserving the system we have now - not patching potholes, not reconstruction,” Reed says. “We’re talking resurfacing.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Paving the way