The Spokane City Council wants to raid a dedicated public roads account and spend the money on an unpopular transit project that voters have rejected. The project, a $72 million electric trolley line in downtown Spokane, has failed to get approval from the Spokane Transit Authority board of directors.

Nearly a year ago voters rejected the trolley project. They were rightly concerned not only about construction costs, but also the ongoing $4.1 million in yearly operating cost. Independent research showed the supposed benefits of an electric trolley were greatly exaggerated and that more efficient alternatives were a better fit for Spokane’s transit needs.

Despite a thumbs-down from voters, Spokane Transit officials and Spokane City Council members continue to seek ways to implement their electric trolley vision anyway – and stick taxpayers and now drivers with the cost.

STA officials have gone as far as naming the system and designing its logo. Again, this despite the fact no funding for its yearly operating costs currently exists. STA officials even admit there is no U.S. manufacturer available to build their electric trolley mode.

Despite the urging of some Spokane City Council members and transit advocates who want to see another tax increase measure placed before voters, there is deep disagreement on the STA board as to whether taxpayers should be asked to weigh in again on a proposal to fund the electric trolley.

At the March STA board meeting, members cancelled plans to place a measure before voters and instead deferred any decision until April.

Spokane City Councilmembers warned that if STA board members did not support sending a new tax measure to voters, they would take matters into their own hands.

Now, Spokane City Councilmembers have voted to raid the Transportation Benefit District (TBD) account for funds – currently made up of car tab fees of $20 per car, per year – to pay for “public transit improvements located within Spokane city limits.” 

The car tab fees people in Spokane pay generate $2.5 million per year for the city, and are dedicated to fixing city streets for the general public. That is what councilmembers promised the money would be used for when they imposed the fee in 2011.

On their own Facebook page, City Council members say the Transportation Benefit fees are the “most important revenue source to fix residential streets and provide new pedestrian infrastructure.” The money, city officials say, is vital to fixing potholes and ensuring safe travel on city streets.

Councilmembers now say they want to scrap car tab fees in favor of a city-wide TBD sales tax increase of 0.2%, and then use those funds to pay for the annual $4.1 million electric trolley operating costs.

Whatever they decide to do, it is clear transit advocates, who could not get approval from voters and failed to get approval from the STA board, now want to divert public money needed to fix the neighborhood streets to pay for their unpopular electric trolley project.

When the Transportation Benefit car tab tax was originally adopted by members of the council, supporters proclaimed they couldn’t “wait around while the streets go to hell.”

Now, it appears the promises can be broken and streets can go south as long as transit advocates are one step closer to having that shiny new electric trolley taxpayers never wanted.