$890,000 cost to add monorail initiative to ballot

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter

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This fee has nothing to do with the cost of adding one more issue onto a loaded presidential-year ballot. Instead, the cost is based on a complicated funding formula in state election law.

The Seattle City Council forwarded the initiative, which seeks to stop the proposed $1.75 billion monorail project, to King County yesterday for the Nov. 2 election. By doing so, the council also put residents of the city on the hook for a higher share of the county's total election cost.

Here's how it works:

Begin with $3.4 million, which is what King County will spend to run the whole election, from the Bush-versus-Kerry presidential contest down to classroom computer levies. In even-numbered years like this one, the state doesn't contribute. So county residents pay for it all.

But any time a local city, school district, fire district or other government launches its own ballot issue, that area then chips in toward the countywide costs — ostensibly to pay its fair share. Those cities or government districts are billed for election costs using a formula that takes into account their proportion of the county's registered voters.

Under the formula, Seattle's share of the countywide election cost this fall is about 25 percent, or around $830,000.

Seattle needs another $50,000 to $60,000 to prepare voter-guide statements on the monorail and related materials, say city officials.

Bottom line: When Initiative 83 made it to the general-election ballot, the city wound up paying a significant share of the election bill. Without the monorail measure, city government wouldn't have had to contribute. "I have no reservations whatsoever, because this is going to save taxpayers $1.7 billion," said Liv Finne, co-chair of Monorail Recall, whose measure seeks to block the proposed $1.75 billion monorail.

City Council members are worried about losing money that could otherwise go toward police, fire, transportation, arts, administration or human services.

"To find a million dollars that would have to come out of this year's budget, I'm not sure where we'll find it," said Councilwoman Jean Godden. "We're going to protest it."
 
The Seattle Monorail Project (SMP) tried in vain to raise the cost issue in written arguments to the state Supreme Court this week. It argued that the funds could be wasted if a court later voids the measure.

The added election price for Seattle taxpayers equals roughly the cost of a latte per voter — or about one week of the citywide car-tab taxes being collected to finance the voter-approved Green Line from Ballard to West Seattle.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com