In the midst of the first Monday commutes with its latest rounds of Metro service cutbacks executed, the King County Council announced it won’t have to slice service again in February. The move preserves buses and frequency for a handful of lines including several Seattle routes — no matter how the city votes on a proposed transit district this fall.
In November, Seattle voters will consider a plan to raise sales taxes by .1% and add a $60 vehicle licensing fee to allow the city to pay for some of its own Metro service. The proposal was initially positioned as a way for Seattle to stave off any new cuts Metro threw at it. “Supporters will now tout the measure as a way to add transit in the nation’s fastest growing city,” the Seattle Times now authoritatively reports.
County officials say the February cuts won’t be necessary after continued optimization at Metro and thanks to increased sales-tax income. They also added they can’t promise there won’t be additional cuts in the future.
So will the new revenue replace the most recent cuts and add more buses when it passes (if our Mayor/council are willing to leave it on the ballot, which I would hope they would do)?
So, the Exec’s office says we need the cuts, but County Council says we don’t? Is that basically what’s happening?
I found the Seattle Times article obscured more than it clarified. The cuts were in the Exec’s budget, sent to Council just recently. Now they have interviews with Council members saying they are canceling the cuts.
I’d love to here more about the differences in perspective. Or am I misunderstanding this?
The projected cuts were based on anticipated sales tax revenues. Metro receives much of its funding from sales taxes. If the taxes come in higher than the original expectation, the cuts do not need to be as deep. If they were coming in even lower, the future cuts would be worse. All the projected cuts had the caveat of being based on sales tax receipt projections which may be higher or lower than estimated.
Yes. And the Exec’s budget also makes projections based on that information. So, were there updated sales tax projections in the two weeks between the Exec’s budget and this Council review? Does Council just have a different take on the same numbers?
Why are folks convinced that the Exec’s budget predictions are wrong and Council’s are right, and therefore Council is making the right decision? Or do Council and the Exec’s Office no longer disagree about this?
That’s what I’m trying to understand.
Hooray, a clue:
http://transportationchoices.org/blog/good-news-for-buses
Sounds like County Council is proposing to avoid cuts by dipping into the reserve fund. Terrible idea, if that’s the case, IMHO.
The mismanagement apparently continues.
That seals it. Anybody who votes for the Mayor’s proposal this fall is foolish.
A big fat NO on any license tab fees until they figure out what they’re doing.