Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata is worried that voters might not want to raise property taxes enough to pay for a nearly $1 billion transportation package. But Mayor Ed Murray says it’s the best option.
City Councilmember Nick Licata says Seattle shouldn’t rely on property taxes alone to raise the nearly $1 billion that Mayor Ed Murray wants for transportation projects.
But Murray is confident that voters will pony up the hefty sum.
The mayor has proposed a 10-year, $930 million property-tax levy for this year’s November ballot, which would cost the owner of a $450,000 home roughly $275 a year. His “Move Seattle” levy would replace the city’s expiring nine-year, $365 million Bridging the Gap transportation levy, which voters approved in 2006.
Licata, in a blog post Wednesday, said Murray’s plan would allow the city to take “a big step forward to address the maintenance backlog, improve safety, build sidewalks, improve bus infrastructure and implement the pedestrian and bike master-plans.”
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But the longtime council member, who isn’t seeking re-election this year, went on to question the sheer magnitude of the mayor’s request.
The council, which has scheduled a public hearing on Murray’s plan for June 2, will make the final decision as to the dollar amount presented to voters on the Nov. 3 ballot.
“We need to consider the size of the levy, and examine alternative funding sources, in an effort to reach the $930 million goal,” Licata said. “We should also consider the risk that a large levy might be less likely to pass, and … the potential consequences.”
Seattle voters usually can be counted on to approve property-tax measures, Licata acknowledged. Since 2006, voters have OK’d nine out of 10 such items, funding parks, libraries, low-income housing, education and more, the council member noted.
The only property-tax measure not approved — a levy in 2013 to fund public financing for elections — came close to passing, with 49.6 percent of the vote.
But Licata says the mayor and council shouldn’t take the city’s voters for granted because Murray’s proposed levy is significantly larger than previous items.
The 2006 Bridging the Gap levy, adjusted for inflation, would be just $424 million today, barely more than half what the mayor is asking for now. The Park District plan approved by voters last year will raise $48 million annually in property taxes, more than anymeasure since 2006, while Murray’s levy would raise $103 million each year.
The Bridging the Gap levy and Park District plan, more costly than other items in recent history, both squeaked by with 53.4 percent, “which suggests Seattle voters may be price-sensitive for larger property-tax measures,” Licata pointed out.
“If voters decide the levy is too large and it doesn’t pass, it may not be realistic to bring back a smaller levy in 2016,” he went on, noting that next year’s ballot likely will include housing and school levies and possibly a light-rail levy. “There is no precedent for Seattle voters passing two large Seattle property-tax measures in the same year.”
When voters approved the Bridging the Gap levy, the council augmented those transportation dollars with a commercial-parking tax and a business tax based on employee hours — also known as a head tax. The latter was repealed in 2009.
“I suggest we consider a similar approach (now),” Licata wrote Wednesday.
He says the council should aim for a $600 million levy in conjunction with a commercial-parking tax and a new employee-hours tax in order to raise a combined $226 million over 10 years. That would result in a total of about $830 million.
The council also is considering transportation-impact fees for real-estate development, which could raise the other $100 million more that Murray wants, Licata said.
The mayor, in an earlier letter to Licata, brushed aside the council member’s worry about possible sticker shock.
“We have heard from public polling, targeted meetings, community outreach and online engagement that there is strong support for a robust transportation package of this scale with this funding,” Murray wrote.
Murray is open to keeping a commercial-parking tax on the books and would like to enact transportation-impact fees, he said.
But parking-tax revenue should be reserved for major capital projects not covered by the Move Seattle plan, such as replacing the Ballard Bridge, and impact fees should complement the levy rather than substitute for a portion of it, he added.
The mayor is against a new head tax, which would be “a new burden on businesses that are contributing to the economy“ by paying the city’s new, higher minimum wage.
“I don’t believe that it makes sense to implement in the first years of our bold move,” he wrote.