Everett
Sales tax for buses on Sept. ballot

By Rachel Tuinstra
Times Snohomish County bureau

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Voters soon will decide whether to pay more sales tax in order to keep Everett Transit from potentially going broke next year.

Approval of Proposition 1 on Sept. 14 would increase Everett's sales tax to 8.6 percent from 8.3 percent, or 3 cents on every $10 in purchases.

If Everett Transit maintains its current level of service and doesn't find additional funds, it will run out of money by June 2005, said Paul Kaftanski, the agency's transportation-services director. If it fails, the transit agency will have several options, including reducing service or putting the proposition to a vote again, Kaftanski said.

This is the first increase Everett Transit has asked for since 1978, when voters approved a 0.3 percent sales tax — part of the 8.3 percent tax — for transit service.

Over the years, the transit agency's revenue has not kept pace with its costs, Kaftanski said. Revenue from the sales tax has decreased from $7.1 million in 2000 to an estimated $6.6 million that the city expects to collect this year, Kaftanski said. The agency estimates it has lost $4.5 million since the 1999 passage of state Initiative 695, which cut auto-license fees.

Everett Transit has 2 million riders annually on its routes and provides door-to-door service for the disabled.

"I fully believe that transit in the city is critical in Everett and one of the best tools Everett has to mitigate rapid growth," said Donna Ambrose, an Everett Transit employee who has taken two weeks of unpaid leave from work to campaign for the sales-tax increase.

Ambrose is among a group of more than a dozen people who have formed Support a Viable and Expanded Everett Transit, or SAVE ET. The group has sent out fliers and picketed in front of Everett Station with signs endorsing a "yes" vote on the proposition. It plans to launch a doorbelling campaign as Election Day nears, Ambrose said.

The campaign also has received the support of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 883, which represents Everett Transit's drivers. No organized opposition to the proposal has formed, city officials said.

SAVE ET members have volunteered to write supportive arguments for the Snohomish County voters pamphlet, but no one has volunteered to write an argument against the measure, said Heather Sorgen of the Snohomish County elections office.
 
Todd Mills, who has ridden Everett Transit for about 17 years, said he believes the agency could make better use of its resources. He questioned why Everett Transit runs so many buses on some routes while cutting back service on others.

"I feel they haven't been smart about how they cut back their services," Mills said. "I would approve the increase because I'm dependent on the bus. But I think the [sales-tax] increase should have been done a long time ago."

Rachel Tuinstra: 425-783-0674 or rtuinstra@seattletimes.com