Streets proposal narrowly ahead

A $117 million bond measure to fix Spokane city streets was leading Tuesday in returns from polling places and from early mail-in ballots.

Mayor Jim West said he wasn’t surprised by the strong vote because citizens had been brought into the planning process, and many of their concerns were addressed in the proposal.

Election night returns showed the measure slightly ahead of the minimum 60 percent “yes” vote needed for the property tax measure. An undetermined number of votes have yet to be counted.

A smaller $50 million bond issue gained only a 44 percent “yes” vote two years ago.

“We told everybody what we were going to do with the money,” West said Tuesday night.

If the bond measure wins final passage it would allow the city to begin fixing an estimated $200 million backlog of rutted, broken streets across the city.

The annual cost to property owners is estimated at 68 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $68 on a $100,000 home. Four separate bond sales would be spaced out over three years. Repayment of the bonds would occur over 20 years.

The plan calls for paving 37 miles of arterials, mostly through a full reconstruction down to new gravel bases. The plan also calls for fixing 52 miles of residential streets. It would provide subsidies for groups of residents who want to pave their gravel residential streets, and it would combine bond money with utility funds for complete repaving of streets that are undergoing utility installations.

In all, as many as 110 miles of streets could be fixed over a period of 10 years beginning in 2006.

“I am very encouraged, obviously,” said Dallas Hawkins, who chaired a citizens’ advisory committee that helped city officials develop the plan.

Hawkins and his committee worked with city officials and neighborhood groups to fine-tune the details, and then took it to a series of community forums last summer for citizen input. The plan was posted on the city’s Web site.

“This was a way to instill accountability,” West said. “How transparent can you be? I think that makes a difference.”

Also, the City Council last month approved creation of a Citizens Streets Advisory Commission as a standing panel of city government to provide oversight for all streets spending, including the bond issue. The commission was proposed by West as part of his effort to increase accountability in city government.

Councilman Bob Apple, an opponent of the street measure, had argued that street repairs should be financed by other revenue sources, and that the interest costs of a bond issue were not necessary because they would increase the overall cost of the program.

Apple said he would accept the verdict of voters. “It’s what the people want,” he said. “There are still a lot of votes left.”