SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane voters will decide in August whether to renew a portion of a sales and use tax — that they already pay — that helps fund public transit projects.
For every $10 spent, eight cents goes to STA to maintain buses and routes. A fourth of that tax — or 0.2 % — is set to expire in two years.
STA’s board of directors is asking voters to renew that 0.2% sales tax for another 20 years. The ballot measure will appear on this year’s primary election in August.
“We know that people are a little tax weary to a certain extent, but this is not going to be an increase on anyone’s taxes. It’s a renewal,” said Carly Cortright, STA’s chief communications officer. “And it helps our vision of connecting everyone to opportunity and making sure that we are servicing all of those in our region.”
STA says the renewal will help them add bus more stops in rural areas and also help them add one they have been planning in Spokane Valley.
Some local bus riders support the renewal. Vicki Holzer says it wouldn’t be much of a change.
“If we’re already paying it and I haven’t noticed it with all the other taxes, let’s just keep it going, because the bus system does a lot for the community and the kids,” she said.
Bus rider Stevie Chianese also agrees the funding is important.
“It is extremely important to fund public transit. You know, especially in a very car centric area. I think it’s really nice,” Chianese said.
However, not everyone agrees the tax should be renewed. Local taxpayer Jim Marlow opposes it.
“It’s just completely out of touch. We’re taxed, especially in Washington state, it seems like at absurdly high rates,” he said.
If voters don’t renew the 0.2% tax this year, STA would still have two more opportunities to put it on the ballot until it expires in 2028.
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