Car tab plan is on agenda in Richland this week

The Richland City Council will advance plans to establish a transportation benefit district funded by a $20 fee on vehicle licenses when it meets Tuesday.

The proposal is on the agenda for the first of two readings before it is formally approved. The council meets in the city manager’s conference room at 7 p.m. for a pre-meeting session, then moves to the council chambers at 7:30 p.m. for the regular meeting.

The transportation benefit district is on the regular meeting section of its agenda. No hearing is scheduled. However, the agenda includes a standing opportunity for members of the public to directly address the elected council on any topic they wish, subject to a two-minute limit.

The council held the first of two promised hearings on Feb. 21, attracting dozens of speakers and more than 100 onlookers. Residents are split on the idea, which would raise money to complete the funding package for the Duportail Bridge project and pay for much-needed street maintenance.

However, Mayor Bob Thompson and council members David Rose and Sandra Kent were excused from the Feb. 21 meeting, and have had no direct public input on the controversial plan in a formal council session.

Washington law allows municipalities to create transportation benefit districts and to fund them with either a sales tax or car tab tax. A sales tax requires a vote of the people, while a car tab tax does not.

Richland has committed to sticking to $20 per year per vehicle, though the law allows the city to raise that to $40 after two years and $50 after two more years.

If approved, the city will begin collecting the fee in 2018 on the approximately 40,000 vehicles registered in the city.

The fee would raise an estimated $850,000 per year, less an administrative fee to the state. The city would use $380,000 of that per year to repay $4 million in bonds needed to fund the $38 million Duportail Bridge, which will connect Queensgate and downtown across the Yakima River.

The state of Washington is covering most of the bridge’s cost through the 2015 transportation package and other road programs.

The balance of $510,000 would augment the $1.2 million the city current dedicates to pavement maintenance.

The tax would expire after 20 years unless extended by a council vote.

Richland is not alone. Prosser established a transportation district in 2009, which it funds with a $20 car tab fee. Connell established a transportation district last year and will ask its voters to fund it with a two-tenths of a percent sales tax fin November’s general election.

Kennewick considered endorsing the move by Richland to create a district, but backed off.

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Car tab plan is on agenda in Richland this week."