The winter storm that hit Kirkland last week brought many things to the city – sanding trucks, plows, snow tires and chains, which wreak havoc on the durability of roads.
But while many were chaining up on Jan. 17, the Kirkland City Council and city staff were revisiting the idea of creating a Transportation Benefit District (TBD), or car-tab tax, to help maintain and improve Kirkland roads and curb a $71 million funding issue during the next decade.
Kirkland roads are currently below standard and the city’s main arterials are even worse.
City officials use a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) to determine the condition of the roads in Kirkland. On the scale, it is acceptable to have the roads maintain a 70 and ideal is around an 85. Kirkland roads are currently ranked at a 65. It would cost the city approximately $71 million over the next decade to get all the roads up to, and maintain, a 70.
“If you look out about 10 years, which is about what our modeling can do, with existing revenues our road condition index will decline to about 60 overall,” said City of Kirkland Public Works Director Ray Steiger. “… We are growing the backlog and our pavement condition index is dropping.”
Steiger said the city has already began implementing some street preservation techniques, including using Slurry Seal to help preserve the pavement. The city has also taken a small amount of the solid waste utility fund to help offset the impact from garbage trucks on the pavement.
“A Transportation Benefit District, that would be spent broadly across the city essentially on those projects that are either arterials or collectors, would stabilize our pavement condition index overall,” said Steiger, adding that the index would stay at 65 PCI. “But what increases significantly is the differed maintenance.”
What city staff is recommending is that revenues from a TBD be applied to main arterials to bring them up to standards. Steiger added that the arterials in Kirkland are in the worst shape at about a 45 PCI overall.
“We would be able to very clearly demonstrate the impact of that revenue, giving the community a very strong accountability of where their money goes,” said Steiger.
Some council members agreed.
“If we are going to put a Band-Aid on let’s put it on the arterials where we will all feel it,” said Councilwoman Penny Sweet.
But Councilman Dave Asher took issue with just how much of an impact the TBD would actually have on the problem as a whole.
“If we do a $20 car tab, at the end of 10 years … there would be only a $3 million difference if we did nothing. Our objective should be getting on the least cost curve … I would like to treat the citizens of Kirkland like adults and tell them that if they don’t sign up for this it’s gonna cost more and continue to cost more because $20 is not even going to stop the degradation.”
In order to make a dent in road maintenance, city staff has thus far come up with a couple of options to fund the Street Preservation Program.
The first option is for the city council to vote to implement a $20 car-tab tax on Kirkland residents. The tax would be implemented on most vehicles and trailers with a license plate, including scooters and motorcycles.
Any tax above $20 would have to go to a public vote and could go as high as $100. Asher pointed out during the meeting that there is a bill in Olympia that if passed would give city councils the authority to go as high as $40 without a public vote.
Another option is to impose a property tax on Kirkland residents in place of the car-tab tax. Under that proposal, residents with a $500,000 home would have to pay $39 more a year in taxes for the city to take in the same amount as the $20 car-tab tax.
The final option is a .2 percent sales tax increase to reach the same threshold. However, none of the current options would fill the projected $71 million funding gap.
The council also received feedback from staff on how outreach efforts went with residents. Steiger told the council that staff reached out to about 250 people during meetings with various neighborhood associations and the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, and had nearly 90 respondents to a survey that was posted online.
“We heard some themes,” said Steiger. “The community feels that we need to continue to do good street maintenance … However some felt that maybe we need to prioritize what we already have … They also felt that if there was an increase in revenue it shouldn’t go on forever. There needs to be a sunset and there needs to be some bang for the buck we can show the community.”
About 55 percent of the people supported the car-tab tax, while most were against the sales tax or property tax increase options.
If the council opts for the TBD they have to begin working with the Department of Licensing by the end of April to start receiving revenue in 2013. The council will discuss the issue at the upcoming annual retreat and future council meetings.
Deputy Mayor Doreen Marchione wants to know by the retreat what Bellevue and Redmond’s funding mechanisms are like because they have a higher overall PCI and are not running into the same economic issues.
Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride recently attended the 40th Annual Economic Forecast Conference The Future of Aerospace in the region presented by enterpriseSeattle.
“Every business leader got up and talked about the importance of two things only in order to help our economy right now,” said McBride. “Invest in education and invest in our infrastructure.”
