Chief
02-21-2008, 07:40 PM
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/02/02212008_CTran-taxing-bill-fails-to-elicit-vote.cfm
Thursday, February 21, 2008
By KATHIE DURBIN, Columbian staff writer
OLYMPIA — A bill that would have allowed C-Tran to establish a new taxing district within its service area to help pay for a light rail line serving Clark County died in the House Tuesday after Speaker Frank Chopp declined to bring it to the floor for a vote.
Chopp said through a spokesman that the House leadership didn’t have a chance to work on the bill during the short 2008 session, but he would be open to taking a look at it in 2009.
The bill, co-sponsored by Vancouver Democratic Reps. Bill Fromhold and Jim Moeller, would have allowed nine transit agencies in the state to create new special-purpose taxing districts within their boundaries for the purpose of financing and operating light rail lines or bus rapid transit.
Those agencies would have been authorized to impose taxes only on citizens who would benefit from “high-capacity transit,” defined as projects that operate on exclusive rights-of-way and provide “a substantially higher level of passenger capacity, speed and service frequency” than traditional public transportation systems, such as bus lines that operate on general-purpose roads.
The Columbia River Crossing Project will include a high-capacity transit component, likely a light rail line, which will serve a portion of Clark County along the I-5 corridor.
C-Tran spokesman Scott Patterson said the line might extend only as far north as Clark College. “The furthest north it would go would be 39th and Main,” he said. If the bill eventually passed and C-Tran decided to implement it, the agency’s board of directors would draw a boundary for the purposes of funding the project, he said. “It’s too soon to say what those boundaries would be.”
C-Tran already has signaled its intent to seek voter approval of a sales tax increase to pay for operation and maintenance of a light rail line. But under existing law, it would have to ask for voter approval of the tax increase throughout its service area, including in communities such as Yacolt and La Center that likely would not use the light rail line.
“It’s C-Tran’s desire to find equitable financing solutions for high-capacity transit in Clark County,” said Tim Leavitt, chairman of the transit agency’s board of directors.
“Specifically, that means asking those folks who benefit the most from high-capacity lines or segments to be the individuals who really bear the brunt of such a system. It’s really an effort to find equity in the costs for high-capacity transit.”
Under the bill, transit agencies would have been authorized to pay for the new services through a variety of taxes: an employee payroll tax of up to $2 per month per employee; a rental car sales and use tax of up to 2.172 percent, or a sales and use tax not to exceed 0.9 percent. Any tax levied would require voter approval.
Transit agencies that serve populations of more than 100,000 would have been eligible. King, Pierce and Snohomish counties were specifically exempted from the bill.
The special-purpose taxing district would be a tool available to C-Tran as it works with other government agencies to develop a funding package for the proposed new Columbia River bridge and related I-5 corridor improvements, Patterson said.
“It’s not an absolute certainty that we would have used it,” he said. “It wasn’t something the agency went into saying, ‘This is something we have to have to make the Columbia River Crossing work.’ ”
The Columbia River Crossing project is not the only reason C-Tran promoted the legislation, Patterson said. The Regional Transportation Council that is designing the crossing is studying other corridors in Clark County that might be candidates for high-capacity transit.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
By KATHIE DURBIN, Columbian staff writer
OLYMPIA — A bill that would have allowed C-Tran to establish a new taxing district within its service area to help pay for a light rail line serving Clark County died in the House Tuesday after Speaker Frank Chopp declined to bring it to the floor for a vote.
Chopp said through a spokesman that the House leadership didn’t have a chance to work on the bill during the short 2008 session, but he would be open to taking a look at it in 2009.
The bill, co-sponsored by Vancouver Democratic Reps. Bill Fromhold and Jim Moeller, would have allowed nine transit agencies in the state to create new special-purpose taxing districts within their boundaries for the purpose of financing and operating light rail lines or bus rapid transit.
Those agencies would have been authorized to impose taxes only on citizens who would benefit from “high-capacity transit,” defined as projects that operate on exclusive rights-of-way and provide “a substantially higher level of passenger capacity, speed and service frequency” than traditional public transportation systems, such as bus lines that operate on general-purpose roads.
The Columbia River Crossing Project will include a high-capacity transit component, likely a light rail line, which will serve a portion of Clark County along the I-5 corridor.
C-Tran spokesman Scott Patterson said the line might extend only as far north as Clark College. “The furthest north it would go would be 39th and Main,” he said. If the bill eventually passed and C-Tran decided to implement it, the agency’s board of directors would draw a boundary for the purposes of funding the project, he said. “It’s too soon to say what those boundaries would be.”
C-Tran already has signaled its intent to seek voter approval of a sales tax increase to pay for operation and maintenance of a light rail line. But under existing law, it would have to ask for voter approval of the tax increase throughout its service area, including in communities such as Yacolt and La Center that likely would not use the light rail line.
“It’s C-Tran’s desire to find equitable financing solutions for high-capacity transit in Clark County,” said Tim Leavitt, chairman of the transit agency’s board of directors.
“Specifically, that means asking those folks who benefit the most from high-capacity lines or segments to be the individuals who really bear the brunt of such a system. It’s really an effort to find equity in the costs for high-capacity transit.”
Under the bill, transit agencies would have been authorized to pay for the new services through a variety of taxes: an employee payroll tax of up to $2 per month per employee; a rental car sales and use tax of up to 2.172 percent, or a sales and use tax not to exceed 0.9 percent. Any tax levied would require voter approval.
Transit agencies that serve populations of more than 100,000 would have been eligible. King, Pierce and Snohomish counties were specifically exempted from the bill.
The special-purpose taxing district would be a tool available to C-Tran as it works with other government agencies to develop a funding package for the proposed new Columbia River bridge and related I-5 corridor improvements, Patterson said.
“It’s not an absolute certainty that we would have used it,” he said. “It wasn’t something the agency went into saying, ‘This is something we have to have to make the Columbia River Crossing work.’ ”
The Columbia River Crossing project is not the only reason C-Tran promoted the legislation, Patterson said. The Regional Transportation Council that is designing the crossing is studying other corridors in Clark County that might be candidates for high-capacity transit.