Voters narrowly approving Spokane Transit Authority’s 20-year tax renewal on Tuesday

Voters were deadlocked in ballots counted Tuesday on a request for another 20 years of sales tax receipts to fund continued upkeep and expansion of the region’s transit system.

Voters in favor of Spokane Transit Authority’s Proposition 1 narrowly outnumbered opponents, with 50.4% of ballots in favor of the sales tax renewal.

The measure would extend a 0.2% sales tax on goods voters first approved 10 years ago. STA says the tax extension is needed to continue offering services established over the past decade and allow for needed future growth, including updating infrastructure on certain high-use routes, improving access to Spokane Valley and other areas of town, and replacing fleet vehicles.

STA anticipates, based on current receipts and inflation, the tax renewal would collect $1 billion for transit over the next 20 years. Supporters of the tax renewal, including former state Sen. Andy Billig and Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley, have argued that the renewal also is necessary to avoid reductions in existing services, including free service for students, and to stop STA from incurring new debt by providing matching funds for grants.

But an organized effort to defeat the measure has focused on STA’s existing reserve fund and a 0.6% sales tax already collected in the region. Opponents have argued that STA is in a strong financial place and voters should let the tax expire in 2028, instead pledging their dollars toward future measures that would address other community needs, among them public safety.

The group Yes for Buses, whose board includes Spokane City Council members Kitty Klitzke and Sarah Dixit, has spent nearly $78,000 in support of the measure. Its largest donor is the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund.

Dixit said she was hopeful following initial returns Tuesday evening.

“I believe the majority of voters support transit in our region,” Dixit said. “I know a lot of folks, you know, have busy lives, so it takes them a while to vote, myself included. You know, I voted today, so I know that those votes are still coming, and I’m optimistic that those will be in our favor.”

The group Citizens for Responsible Transit, which is opposed to the proposition, spent more than $166,000 to defeat the measure as of Tuesday, much of that provided by Larry Stone, a local developer and major contributor to conservative causes in the city.

Spokane County Commissioner Al French, who’s been critical of STA spending, said he believed late votes would break against the measure, criticizing the direction of the transit authority’s board, of which he is a member.

“Conservatives vote later, and conservatives are going to be more critical of the ballot measure than the others,” French said.

“The board doesn’t deserve to have more funding,” French said, while praising the authority’s staff and employees.

Voters in November 2016 voted in favor of the 0.2% sales tax, which is set to expire Dec. 31, 2028. That followed voters in an April 2015 special election narrowly defeating a 0.3% sales tax that would have lasted 10 years.

In that November 2016 election, 193,935 ballots were returned and 55.8% of those were in favor. As of Tuesday, 61,389 ballots had been returned.

Intern Benedikt Larson contributed to this report.