Snohomish Looking at TB District, Too

Officials in Snohomish County are also considering creation of a countywide Transportation Benefit District. Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall has joined the City of Everett in asking Snohomish County officials to create the special taxing district to fix their area's most congested roads; the cities of Lynnwood, Mukilteo, Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace are siad to be considering following suit.

Snohomish County officlas think that the new tax package would have to be smaller than the failed $2 billion RTID proposal--which proved to be too big for voters to swallow--but the project list would likely would lean heavily on the RTID proposal that identified which projects were most important and how much they would cost.

What is a Transportation Benefit District (TBD)?

Following the failure of Proposition 1, regional leaders are reviewing their options for funding badly needed transportation improvements. Discussions with RAMP participatns both in and out of the monthly meetings suggest that RTID is dead as the funding vehicle of choice, and the group consensus may be forming around a transportation benefit district as its most likely successor.

A transportation benefit district (TBD) is an independent taxing district created solely to acquire, construct, improve, provide and fund transportaiton improvements within a defined area. That area can be defined with much more flexibility than RTID conferred--it can encompass a broad array of counties, cities, and port or transit districts depending upon each jurisdiction's willingness to enter an interlocal agreement.

A TBD also has access to a variety of funding mechanisms. Two of these--setting an annual vehicle fee and levying transportation impact fees--do not require voer approval, although they are subject to toher condidions. TBDs can also ask voters to approve several new revenue sources, including increased property taxes, sales tax, annual vehicle fees and tolls.