Covington’s proposed transportation benefit district ballot measure was losing by six votes by the end of Tuesday.
The City Council approved putting the matter to voters because it doesn’t have enough money to fix streets and would like to add another officer to its police force. If the trend continues, the city will spend its reserves for road projects in four years.
The TBD would, if it passes, generate revenue through a sales tax increase of 0.2 percent — from 8.6 percent to 8.8 percent — to fill the coffers of its street fund and could generate as much as $750,000 a year.
As of late July, the street fund is expected to be short $56,000 this year. City Manager Derek Matheson explained to the Covington Rotary July 26 that the recession, higher gas prices, inflation and statewide ballot measures reduced the cash flow into the city’s street fund.
Matheson wrote in an email the morning after the first round of ballots were counted that he wasn’t ready to give up on the TBD yet and as of Nov. 7, he wrote, “the ballot measure’s outcome is still very much undetermined.”
City officials are thinking about what happens either way.
“If it passes, we’ll start the process to hire another police officer, create an annual street overlay program, and implement the other, smaller programs identified by the TBD board,” Matheson wrote.
Matheson added that there will be a one-time street overlay program in 2014 whether the TBD passes or not because the city got a grant for projects in the northern part of the city.
“If it fails, I expect the City Council/Transportation Benefit District Board will start to talk about next steps at its annual retreat in January, if not before,” Matheson wrote. “Options include placing it on the ballot again, imposing a $20 vehicle license fee like the Maple Valley TBD, increasing the General Fund’s $250,000 annual subsidy to the Street Fund (which is possible only with sustained economic growth), and reducing Street Fund programs as the fund runs out of money.”
Ballots were not counted Monday because King County offices were closed for Veterans Day. Another round of ballots are to be counted and results posted Wednesday afternoon.
