City Passes Two-Pronged Roads Plan
The Seattle City Council yesterday passed a (perhaps unwittingly) clever two-pronged plan to tackle road improvement projects throughout the city.
The Seattle City Council approved a $1.6 billion transportation funding package Monday to pay for repairs to the city's bridges and roads.The most obvious and stated purpose of this plan is that it will raise a very large pile of cash that for the city to spend (allegedly) on roads. The less apparent key to the plan is hinted at in the article: drive people away from downtown, so the roads take less abuse. That may not be an intentional effect of the plan, but it's certainly a real one, given the quotes in the above article. It's even possible that the negative effects on businesses is an intentional aspect of this plan. Maybe it is a clever part of how the plan is designed to work. Either that or the Mayor and the city council are oblivious to the likely effects of their actions. You choose.
Councilmembers approved a 10 percent commercial parking tax and business transportation tax that totals $18.25 million a year. Voters will decide whether to add higher property taxes to that mix in the November election.
The package is part of Mayor Greg Nickels' "Bridging the Gap" plan. He says the transportation budget has declined from $37.5 million in 1995 to $13.1 million in 2006. The city's $500 million maintenance backlog has continued to grow as a result, and it needs money to repair aging roads and bridges.
"Unfortunately, this backlog could not be addressed before tremendous holes were shot in the budget with the loss of state funding and the Eyman initiatives," said City Councilman Richard Conlin at the meeting Tuesday.
Councilmembers voted to pay for those repairs Monday through a business transportation tax that places a $25 per year tax on each full time employee. They also passed a 10 percent commercial parking tax. The funds would pay for major projects like a new rail overpass on South Lander Street and the widening of the Spokane Street Viaduct but business owner Heather Fitzpatrick says it would cut into her bottom line.
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Seattle Chamber of Commerce President Steve Leahy says Fitzpatrick isn't alone. He says this tax is a formula to drive businesses out of town.
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The funding package does not include repairs to the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and voters still need to decide on tax proposals for the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) and Sound Transit.
Add the taxes up, and Leahy says it sends a message to businesses that Seattle is not a "business friendly" city.
Fitzpatrick plans to pay the taxes but says she'll think twice about staying in Seattle, when the lease at her Fremont office expires 18 months from now.
(Akiko Fujita, KOMO News, 08.07.2006)
2 comments:
If you are saying that a $25/year per employee tax is business unfriendly and will drive businesses out of Seattle I think that you are mistaken. That amount of money is chump change. What matters to me is how they spend the money. If the money is spent such that people have a better commute that will be good for business and for employees. Taxes are not bad when they are invested properly in the community and most business owners should know that based on their own decision making experiences.
I agree with the previous comment. I don't think it is so much the issue of the increased tax, but that the money received from the increased tax is used for what it is intended for. Time and time again, there are tax increases here and there, but we consistantly have the same issues and yet more increases. Gas, Roads, ect. If the money were used for what it was intended, this wouldn't ben an issue (now anyway). It is ridiculous. Oh, and for our parkers, it is more like $150/year per parker. Just take the bus, then it doesn't effect you. Problem solved.
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