Voters Slam Brakes On Street Repair Bond $37.3 Million Proposal To Fix City Arterials Overwhelmingly Defeated
Get used to the potholes, Spokane, because the city’s street-rescue plan fell into one.
Voters tired of seeing their property tax bills go up shot down a $37.3 million bond issue aimed at repaving about 46 miles of arterials and four miles of residential streets.
The measure’s overwhelming defeat Tuesday didn’t surprise Jonathan Swanstrom, a member of the “Nay sayers”- an organized effort to defeat the bond.
“It’s a referendum on no new property taxes,” Swanstrom said. “There was a mistrust that city leaders would spend the money in a proper fashion.”
Dale Stedman, coordinator of the defeated “Yes! For Better Streets” campaign, said he got the message that taxpayers don’t want their property taxes going to streets.
“If that’s the way the public sees it, who am I to argue?” Stedman said. “They’re the ones that use the streets. If they don’t think it’s their obligation to take care of them, they’ll continue to deteriorate.”
The bond would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $630 over seven years.
City officials prayed the bond would infuse money into a street system in dire need of repairs. State and federal money they relied on to pay for resurfacing vanished. New dollars they hoped for never materialized.
For years, the city relied on federal dollars for routine street upkeep, but that money is gone, officials said. Other ways to pay for resurfacing - a utility tax, a local gas tax, an added motor vehicle fee - were shot down by courts, voters and county commissioners.
A decrease in state gas tax revenue made the situation even worse.
City officials initially said they’d send the measure back to voters if it failed, but Tuesday’s resounding defeat told them that wasn’t a good idea.
“We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board,” said Mayor Jack Geraghty. “Those aren’t the kind of numbers that could show a turnaround in a month or two.”
Dick Adams, a member of the “Nay sayers,” said the vote sent a clear message to City Hall: Revamp spending priorities.
The city plans to try to convince the state Legislature to offer municipalities different road-repair funding options.
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