Resolution 4949 - Laserfiche WebLink

RESOLUTION NO. 4949 /?/%/MM.1 A resolution regarding equity for the citizens of Everett and Snohomish County in terms of state transportation investments. WHEREAS, one of the core principles of tax policy must be the tenet of fairness and equity for the taxpayer to the maximum extent possible; and WHEREAS, in the Central Puget Sound, in the case of investment of tax dollars for state transportation needs,there has nearly always been something less than dollar-for-dollar tax equity for the taxpayers of Everett and Snohomish County, as well as the taxpayers in King and Pierce counties and the cities within those counties; and WHEREAS, for Snohomish County, in the decade between 1989 and 1998, for every dollar in state transportation taxes paid to the state by the county's taxpayers, only 89 cents came back in transportation investments, according to a report done by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) in coordination with associations representing cities, counties, and transit; and WHEREAS, the inequity is in direct conflict with the State's Growth Management Act, which is premised on having the most urban areas accommodate high growth and density — and have infrastructure in place to serve that growth; and WHEREAS, this inequity exacerbates the problems with traffic congestion in Everett and Snohomish County, and indeed in all parts of the Central Puget Sound, where the congestion and gridlock is worsening significantly; and WHEREAS,in Everett,this is exemplified by daily backups at peak time and sometimes throughout the day on Interstate 5,across U.S.Highway 2,and elsewhere; and WHEREAS,the situation will only worsen without a major and equitable transportation initiative, as underscored by a Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) that spells out more than $300 million worth of highway and arterial needs alone over the next six years; and WHEREAS, the passage of Initiative 695 in November 1999 resulted in a loss of some $750 million in transportation investment that had been previously approved through voter passage of Referendum 49; and WHEREAS,the 2000 Legislature deserves credit for diligently working to restore some of the lost transportation funds, but was still unable to restore all of the congestion-relief, highway, freight,transit, rail,and ferry investments; and WHEREAS, the region was dealt a further blow recently when members of the Puget Sound Regional Council, who had commissioned a study by the firm of Ben Porter and Associates, learned that, with the disproportionate congestion relief, transit, and ferry impacts felt by the Central Puget Sound from I-695, the taxpayers of our region are projected, within the next 20 years, to be getting back only 51 cents on the dollar -- unless state transportation funding policy changes are enacted; and