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Getting from here to there could get easier if local governments were to enact $20 car tab taxes within their jurisdictions.
The only problem? Giving the tax the OK without voters’ approval could place one big roadblock in getting other projects funded later.
The state Legislature has allowed for local governments to collect an additional $20 per year from car owners when they register their vehicles. The idea is that the extra money will be used exclusively to pay for local road improvements.
That option is being mulled over by the city of Spokane Valley, where it has been estimated that it takes at least $4 million each year to keep roads up to snuff and $6 million to prevent costly improvements in the future. The city’s road fund is expected to start drying up in 2009, according to the city’s finance officer.
County commissioners, too, are considering the tax to help jumpstart the funding for construction of the southern portion of the north-south freeway. While widely considered to be a federal/state funding problem, county and city leaders are being told that the project would move up the priority list if dollars are locally matched.
Officials with both the city and county have indicated they would seek voter approval for any tax hike on car tabs. Tim Eyman – who orchestrated Initiative 695, which originally set car registration renewals to $30 – wrote a strongly worded e-mail to county commissioners to do just that.
“It’s despicable for the three of you to disrespect and disregard the voters’ clear mandate,” Eyman wrote on Jan. 22.
Eyman said that I-695 passed by 56 percent approval statewide in 1999. In Spokane County, that approval was 68 percent.
“Voters from Spokane County consistently and viscerally oppose unilateral tax and fee increases imposed by politicians without a vote of the people,” Eyman added.
In Spokane County, the measure would raise about $7 million a year. If the $20 fee were put in place in the city of Spokane Valley, it would raise between $1.2 and $1.4 million a year, which still wouldn’t be enough to address the local road issues, according to Ken Thompson, the city’s finance director.
The county has been looking for local municipalities support before moving forward with a fee, but council members said at a workshop meeting Jan. 15 that the issue still needs more study. For example, if a regional tax is imposed, would it preclude the city from implementing its own locally?
“This is a new creature,” Cary Driskell, an attorney for the city of Spokane Valley, told the council.
Mayor Richard Munson said the issue bears further investigation before either supporting the county’s efforts or moving forward with the city’s own.
“We just don’t know yet,” he said.
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By
Mike Huffman
