A controversial sales tax increase will fund critical road repairs in unincorporated parts of King County, but will be paid for by residents across the county, including in Seattle.
The sales tax measure narrowly passed by the council by a 5-4 margin.
Voting in favor of Friday’s roads-fund tax increase were Councilmembers Rhodan Lewis, Teresa Mosqueda, Sarry Perry and Claudia Balducci.
The opponents were Rod Dembowski, Reagan Dunn, Steffanie Fain, and Pete von Reichbauer.
If Seattle voters approve a separate measure proposed by Mayor Katie Wilson to raise the city’s transportation tax to 0.3% later this year, residents in Seattle would pay a 10.8% sales tax, the highest in the state.
Even without the proposed Seattle increase, the sales tax rate will go up to 10.65%, up from 10.55%.
Residents of unincorporated non-urban areas of King County would pay 9%.
However, neither the residents of King County nor Seattle will get a chance to vote on the King County measure.
State law gives the King County Metropolitan Council the power to vote as a separate body called the “Transportation Benefit District", which it did on Friday.
This enabled the Council to bypass the voters and pass the tax increase.
The tax will automatically go into effect in January.
King County says the average household will pay $40 more in sales tax.
Councilmembers who voted against the measure, such as Councilmembers Stephanie Fain and Rod Dembowski, said their constituents could not afford a tax increase.
Dembowski spoke at the meeting about a restaurant server he had recently met, hard-pressed to afford life in King County.
He said he casually mentioned to her the tax increase and she replied, "I don’t know how much more I can take.”
Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda and the majority voting bloc successfully argued that if preventive maintenance wasn’t done on the aging roads now, taxpayers would pay later as road conditions worsened.
“For too long, communities in unincorporated King County areas, like White Center and Vashon-Murray Island, have faced roads and transportation infrastructure that continues to deteriorate, and the only governing body with direct ability to invest in unincorporated infrastructure is King County,“ she said.
Mosqueda said the county faces a dire shortfall in funding for roads and bridges, with a need for more than $200 million annually and an existing budget of just $6 million.
The measure approved Friday is estimated to generate roughly $100 million in the first year.
Seattle would collect some of the sales tax, but Councilman Eddie Lin said in a statement that the money it would receive would be the lowest per capita among King County communities.
County estimates show that Seattle is estimated to get $4.7 million a year.
“We would miss out on roughly $30 million over 10 years — critical dollars for our roads and public transportation, “ Lin said.
Lin said wealthier suburbs in the county, such as Medina, Hunts Point, and Clyde Hill, receive a disproportionately high amount of sales tax dollars, subsidized by Seattle taxpayers.
$11M in federal aid for Washington state flood victims handed out as deadline passes
Jake Goldstein-Street / Washington State Standard
The deadline has passed to apply for federal assistance in response to Washington’s flooding last year, with over $11 million distributed so far.
More than 1,200 households have tapped the funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The cutoff to apply was last week, but some applications are still being processed, so the $11.2 million handed out is likely to rise.
“I appreciate the hard work of so many to get the word out to Washingtonians that this funding was available to them,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said in a statement. “I’m glad that so many Washingtonians got assistance to help them recover following December’s historic flooding.”
Still, it’s just over half of the sum Ferguson requested based on initial estimates of the need and that President Donald Trump OK’ed earlier this year.
The money can help flood victims repair their homes or find stable housing, but it won’t make them whole. About half has gone toward housing assistance, while the other half has been earmarked for other needs, like child care, replacing or repairing personal property or vehicles and hotel stays.
In the historic flooding late last year, nearly 3,900 homes were damaged. Over 100,000 Washingtonians were ordered to evacuate, and hundreds had to be rescued.
FEMA is also working with over 150 state, local and tribal governments, as well as nonprofits eligible for other assistance to deal with infrastructure damage. Trump approved potentially tens of millions more dollars for this purpose, with the state estimating the flood damage at $182 million.
It could take years before it’s clear how much FEMA reimburses in total based on the time it will take to complete all repairs.
The U.S. Small Business Administration, meanwhile, has signed off on over $14 million in low-interest loans to businesses, nonprofits, homeowners and renters affected by the flooding.
Officials implored residents across 10 counties and many tribal nations to apply for the individual assistance ahead of the June 10 deadline. A FEMA spokesperson said it’s unclear how many aid requests are still outstanding. In some cases, the federal agency could extend the deadline. There were more than 2,500 applications.
“It’s still going to be a full-court press to process those applications that are still in the works,” Robert Ezelle, director of the Military Department’s Emergency Management Division, said in a meeting last week.
“Huge shout-out and thank you to FEMA for the essential services they provide,” Ezelle added.
FEMA assistance centers in Snohomish and Sumas will remain open for a while longer to help applicants. Nineteen such centers across western Washington garnered over 1,000 visits from residents.
The state had offered its own similar assistance, but restrictions on who can access it left most of the money unused. Of $2.5 million in cash assistance, only $175,000 had been distributed as of last month.
Ferguson has said he’d like to pursue changes to the guidelines to open up the state’s funding to more people in future disasters.
Some of the aid was also closed off to avoid duplication with FEMA dollars.
Another pot with $1 million from the state was quickly doled out to over 2,600 households.
As of Friday, the state was also still waiting for a response from the Trump administration after denying Ferguson’s request for $36 million in federal funding for projects meant to protect from future flooding. State officials appealed the decision, but haven’t received a response, said Karina Shagren, spokesperson for the Washington Military Department.
