STA wants permanent tax

The Spokane Transit Authority is asking voters to maintain the sales tax they approved four years ago.

But this time, there may be no going back.

Not so long ago, the public seemed fed up with STA. It was heavily criticized for overspending – especially when building its downtown bus plaza – and ignoring the public.

Now STA officials say they have earned trust, in part, by raising the number of riders and routes, increasing the public’s role in the organization and improving service to areas such as Cheney and Spokane Valley.

“I think we got a report card back that demonstrates an ‘A,’ ” said County Commissioner Mark Richard, chairman of the STA Board, composed of elected officials from Spokane County, Spokane, Spokane Valley and several small cities.

The board voted unanimously in February to ask for a renewal of the three-tenths of 1 percent sales tax approved in 2004, but with one big difference: no sunset clause.

Members defend the decision to try making the tax permanent by pointing to other large transit systems in the state, which have sales taxes that don’t require periodic votes to maintain.

“STA needs a stable, consistent source of funding,” said Spokane City Councilman Richard Rush.

Ballots that will include the STA measure will arrive in the mail early next month and must be returned by May 20.

Although the lack of a sunset clause has wide support among elected leaders and portions of the business community, including Greater Spokane Inc., some argue that without a sunset the organization would revert to old habits.

Former Spokane City Councilman Joel Crosby said STA has made some positive changes, but he’ll vote against the tax. “Once you vote for this, there’s no accountability anymore,” Crosby said. “They’ve made some organizational changes. But the same empty buses drive around town.”

STA collects a six-tenths of 1 percent sales tax. That’s 6 cents on a $10 purchase. Half of that was approved by voters without a sunset in 1981. The other half was approved in the 2004 vote.

County Commissioner Todd Mielke also said he has concerns about the latest proposal. Retaining the sunset “allows you to keep the public in the dialogue,” he said.

But with gas prices surging, he said, he’ll vote yes. “Not everybody can go out and buy a car with better gas mileage,” Mielke said.

The transit system’s chief executive officer, Susan Meyer, pointed to a list of nine goals set by the organization in 2004. STA recently promoted those goals with “accomplished” stamped over them in advertising inserts in the Pacific Northwest Inlander and the Journal of Business.

“The board’s conclusion was that the sunset was approved so STA could get its act together,” Meyer said. “We came back and have met or exceeded all of the objectives.”

As to concerns about empty buses, STA officials say they took advice from the public to buy some smaller buses for routes that serve fewer people. STA has six 60-foot buses and almost 100 standard-size buses, which are 40 feet long. Since 2002, STA has purchased 29 35-foot buses, 13 30-foot buses and seven large vans for regular service routes, said Operations Director Steve Blaska.

Still, there will always be buses that sometimes are empty or nearly empty, Blaska said, because demand changes during the day. On the morning commute, buses headed downtown often are full or close to it, while buses leaving downtown have fewer riders.

Even so, buses are getting fuller. Last year, STA reported a record 9.4 million bus rides – up by 1 million from a year before. And so far in 2008, with gas prices topping $3.50 a gallon and help from snowstorms, numbers still are increasing.

The tax approved in 2004 will expire next year. Meyer said STA is asking for early renewal so it can plan for service reductions if voters reject the tax – and allow for a second vote if it fails in a close decision.

If the tax is not renewed STA would lose more than a third of its total funding, which includes grants and fares in addition to sales tax revenue. In 2008 that would mean cutting $24 million out of the $65 million budget. Without the tax, officials say, regular service will be cut significantly, perhaps in half. STA’s paratransit service, which does not follow fixed routes or schedules and gave about 500,000 rides in 2007, likely would be hurt as well, but not as severely.

A failed vote also would change STA’s plans to replace 75 buses in the next five years.

STA has about 550 employees. When the organization dealt with the possibility of not passing the tax in 2004, it planned for 153 layoffs. If the tax is not renewed, the number of job cuts likely would be higher, officials say.

Besides the lack of a sunset, Crosby points to another concern about the tax. He wonders why STA won’t make a final decision on the future of the downtown STA Plaza until after the vote.

STA is studying the idea of moving out of the plaza to the Intermodal Center, the arrival point for Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains. A consultant’s report said it would be cheaper to remodel the plaza than move, and many STA board members say they favor staying put. Still, a final vote on the matter will follow a traffic study.

Crosby, who opposed the plaza when it was built, said that having spent $20 million to build it in 1995, the organization should stay and voters should have the answer when they fill out their ballots.

Meyer said STA is simply doing its due diligence by finishing a traffic study first. Moving “looks like a less desirable alternative,” she said. “But we’re also not going to make the decision until there’s been a community conversation about it.”

Spokane Valley City Councilman Steve Taylor, who opposed the tax in 2004, said he’s undecided about renewing it. Service and management has improved, he said, but there’s no sunset and he believes the organization could ask for less if it made some “long-term budget adaptations.”

County Commissioner Bonnie Mager said just because there’s no sunset that doesn’t mean the tax couldn’t be reversed. Citizens could work to put it on the ballot, she said.

Mager pointed to STA statistics showing the authority’s average cost to provide service per hour is cheaper than bus systems that cover Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and Vancouver, Wash.

“They’ve demonstrated good stewardship,” Mager said. “People are getting good value for their dollar.”