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POSTED: Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

WTA will ask voters in April to raise local sales tax

Most people at hearing oppose service cuts

Whatcom County voters will decide next April whether to approve a sales tax increase for Whatcom Transportation Authority.

If voters pass it, the increase will take effect next fall and will raise about $6 million a year.

After hearing public testimony Thursday, Nov. 19, the WTA board voted 6-2 to ask voters to increase the local sales tax by two-tenths of 1 percent - equal to 20 cents on a $100 purchase. The added money would stave off cuts in WTA bus service.

Board members Jack Louws, the mayor of Lynden, and Mel Hansen, a Ferndale City Council member, voted against it. Pete Kremen, the county executive, was absent.

The board meeting Thursday focused on the agency's proposed budget for 2010. Three options were on the table:

• Cut service by 14 percent, including all Sunday service and some weekday cuts.

• Cut service by 10 percent, with only weekday cuts.

• Keep current service intact, pending the outcome of the election.

The vast majority of people who spoke supported keeping bus service intact. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 843, which represents many WTA employees, staged a rally with about three dozen people outside the meeting. About 60 people attended the hearing, more than have attended a WTA meeting in years.

Todd Childs, a Bellingham resident who is developmentally disabled, said he relies on Sunday paratransit service to get to Special Olympics practices.

"If they cut services on Sundays, you'll be forcing developmentally disabled people that participate in activities on Sundays to find alternative solutions, and not all of them can afford that," he said.

Several people spoke of the importance of bus service to the colleges, particularly Bellingham Technical College. Under both proposals for cuts, two of three routes serving BTC would be eliminated, and the third route would have evening service dropped.

"Many of our students indicated that without a public transportation option, they'd be hard-pressed to make it to campus on a daily basis," said Debra Jones, vice president of administrative services at BTC.

Others said they worried about the impacts to people who have vehicles but choose to ride the bus.

"If you jerk that service away to meet a short-term dip in the sales tax revenues, it's not like those people will just be ready and waiting to come back in 2011, when sales tax revenues have climbed again," said Bellingham resident Abe Jacobson. "Ridership is a little like plants: You have to keep tending to it and you have to maintain your side of the bargain."

Bellingham resident Rick Hannam opposed a tax increase, saying WTA got one five years ago. He predicted the agency would seek another tax hike in a few years even if the measure passes in April.

Hannam said the average working person doesn't want to keep subsidizing WTA, and suggested raising fares to $1.50 or $2. The current fare is $1 for a single ride.

"You can't go on taxing the public over and over and over again," Hannam said. "This is a bad model, a failed model."

WTA staff proposed going to the ballot in August, but board members opted for April after Western Washington University student government leaders said it should be held during the academic year so more students could vote.

Holding it in April instead of November will cost the agency more to put it on the ballot, about $160,000, instead of $40,000 to $60,000, said Richard Walsh, WTA general manager. But holding the vote in April also lets the agency make cuts earlier, if necessary.

If the tax is rejected, the agency could make service cuts in fall 2010, saving about $400,000 next year. If approved, the tax increase would take effect in the fall, yielding WTA more than $1 million in 2010, said Patricia Dunn, the agency's finance director.

Board member Dan Pike, Bellingham's mayor, urged the board to limit the tax increase to six years. He said that would give WTA time to cope but would push the agency to change the system's finances.

"I would like to look at some broader issues before we make it a permanent increase," he said. "Putting something in place permanently that's reflective of a dip is not necessarily responsible."

That idea failed, with only Pike and Jim Ackerman, Nooksack's mayor, in favor.

The board will consider a 2010 budget in December that keeps service at current levels but would cut the equivalent to 3.4 full-time employees by not replacing people who are leaving. One result: no one would staff the downtown customer service desk on Sundays.

Another $850,000 in cuts and savings are proposed, but none would affect the amount of transit service.

SURVEY RESULTS

A survey commissioned by Whatcom Transportation Authority shows the public generally thinks WTA services have improved during the past five years, a period in which the agency boosted service dramatically and added the GO Lines that run every 15 minutes.

The survey by Redhill Group is ongoing, but so far 739 people were contacted by telephone Nov. 4 to 18. Here is a sample of preliminary results.

To see the preliminary survey results, click here:

• 35 percent of people said they'd ridden the bus in the past year.

• 54 percent said service had improved the past five years, 20 percent said it's the same, 5 percent said it's worse, the rest didn't know.

• 57 percent were satisfied of very satisfied with WTA service, 19 percent were somewhat satisfied, 7 percent were somewhat dissatisfied, and 2 percent were very dissatisfied. The rest didn't know.

• 27 percent were aware of a WTA revenue downturn before taking the survey, the rest weren't aware.

• 37 percent said the best way to balance revenues and expenses was to increase the sales tax to maintain service, 22 percent said reduce service, 18 percent said increase the tax to boost service, 10 percent said raise fares, and 6 percent said don't raise taxes. The rest were "other" or "don't know."