Sound Transit to spend majority of its $3.1B 2020 budget on light rail expansion
Weeks after the Washington Supreme Court delayed implementation of Initiative 976, Sound Transit has approved a $3.1 billion budget for 2020.
Board chairman John Marchione said the agency is moving ahead as scheduled because even if I-976 were implemented, Sound Transit would continue to collect higher car excise taxes until it paid off $2.3 billion in the bonds it secured through those revenues.
“We pledged this revenue stream, so even a vote of the people or the Legislature can’t take that away,” he said. “Once these bonds are paid off, then we lose that taxing authority because of the rule.”
Sound Transit expects to bring in $2.5 billion in revenue in 2020, including $1.5 billion from retail sales and use tax, $359 million from car tabs and rental car taxes and $333 million in federal grants. The initiative, which would cut car tabs to $30 among other limitations on transit agencies’ ability to raise revenue, would make deep cuts in the agency's revenue stream and could mean $25 billion more in taxes to complete its system expansion.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2019/12/26/sound-transit-to-spend-majority-of-its-3-1b-2020.html?ana=e_ae_set1&j=90400231&t=Afternoon&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTVRnNFpqY3pNRFl3TXprNSIsInQiOiJtQ3ByWDRMVlNUYXRQN3IxZmtZeTY5aUFSaUdhZzk1YUQ4Nk94SXVQWHBvK24xQ0lRNFRDQmpBSXpyd0todFkxaHdTSzVVVkFcL3JiZ0FxYVdFRkNORThXU3pzSllVUVBSUDFzR0tIZTJDYXJCV0NQU2NBOHo3dlwvRjFPVEtQUVU2In0%3D
