Initiative will affect road repair funds

Two local towns will directly lose transportation funds because of the passage of a state initiative.

Electric City and Elmer City will lose a bit of revenue from the recent passage of a statewide initiative that, among other things, limits how cities can collect money for their transportation benefit districts.

Electric City and Elmer City each have charged a $20 fee per vehicle registered to their residents, which brought in about $17,000 for Electric City’s TBD and $6,000 for Elmer City’s, according to their city clerks.

Grand Coulee’s TBD, which brings in money from a 0.2% sales tax, is anticipated to be unaffected.

That sales tax increase brought in $53,594.38 between January and the end of September of 2019.

Initiative 976, which passed the Nov. 5 election with 53% of the vote, also limits state car tab fees to $30 for vehicles 10,000 pounds or less.

The passage of I-976 is anticipated to cause a loss of over $4 billion for road construction and other transit programs throughout the state over the next six years.

“Estimates provided to members of the House Transportation Committee put the cuts at $1.9 billion for the state and $2.3 billion for local projects during that period,” the Spokesman Review reported. “Gov. Jay Inslee has ordered the state Transportation Department to postpone any project not yet underway, describing it as a ‘response to the will of the people.’ The State Patrol and Department of Licensing have been ordered to delay non-essential spending during the review.”