'Advisory' vote on roads weighed

Friday, June 4, 2004

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

Puget Sound-area officials, not expecting to have a $12.8 billion transportation improvement package on the ballot this fall, may instead try an "advisory" election to take the pulse of voters before putting a package before them next year.

Members of the Regional Transportation Investment District executive board agreed yesterday to explore the possibility of an advisory ballot in November, thinking the higher turnout in a presidential election would give officials a better sense of how voters view a package of road and transit improvements.

"I'd like to do something, as opposed to talk some more," said Snohomish County Councilman Dave Gossett, a board member. A date for deciding when, or if, to have a vote hasn't been set.

The district, formed to raise money locally for transportation improvements, has proposed a plan that, among other things, would provide $1 billion each toward replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Evergreen Point Bridge and $875 million for extending light rail to Sea-Tac Airport and Husky Stadium. It would also spend $1.9 billion for adding lanes to Interstate 405 and state Route 167, rebuild the Interstate 5/state Route 518 and I-405/167 interchanges and extend state Route 509.

But Sound Transit authorities refused to join the effort after several influential business groups said last month that their polling indicates voters probably would reject the measure. The taxes to pay for the projects were an increase of 0.3 percent in the sales tax, a 0.3 percent motor vehicle excise tax, a $75 vehicle license fee and a 2.8 percent three-county gas tax. It was estimated to cost just under $300 annually for an average family in the three-county area.

Yesterday another board member, King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson, again suggested considering the advisory vote, which would give voters a detailed look at the plan and give officials a sense of what voters think.

It could be "the most accurate form of polling we could do," she said, adding that the business leaders haven't yet disclosed the details of their poll or how the questions were posed.

Board members agreed to have their staff write a plan for putting the package to a vote in the spring of 2005. They also asked staff to investigate setting up an advisory ballot and how much it would cost King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. State law established the improvement districts but did not provide funding for advisory ballots, board Chairman Gary Nelson said, so they'll be "on our dime."

The plans will be presented to the board for consideration, at a date not yet set.

State Transportation Secretary Douglas MacDonald said the lack of complete consensus on the plan, approved 6-1 in late April, will hurt it in the eyes of voters. MacDonald and Pierce County Councilman Shawn Bunney said more time is needed to build support for the package.

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