Thursday, November 12, 2015

How Much Each WA State County Gets For Their Transpo Tax Dollars

An article on KREM.com that originated at KING 5 News in Seattle, says taxpayers in some Washington state counties get more out of their transportation tax dollars than others.

A new WSDOT study outlines the estimated return on transportation projects for every dollar contributed by people within each county. Transportation taxes mostly consist of the 38-cent state and federal gas tax, but also taxes from bonded projects, licensing and ferry fees.

Garfield County residents see the most return for their money at $3.69 on the dollar. Franklin County has the least return with a 52-cent return in transportation projects for every $1 in taxes. In King County, residents see a $1.01 return on their $1 investment. Spokane County only sees $0.78 return.

Elected officials in some counties, like Snohomish, are not happy, saying the return is not fair as the county contributes an above-average amount to the overall state's economy due to Boeing and other aerospace companies being located there.

The 2015 results from this study, done every two years, are at this link. Here's the full list of how much each county gets back for its transportation dollar:

  • Garfield: $3.69
  • Lincoln: $3.13
  • Ferry: $2.85
  • San Juan: $2.63
  • Jefferson: $2.58
  • Adams: $2.25
  • Pacific: $2.18
  • Wahkiakum: $2.15
  • Columbia: $2.08
  • Pend Orielle: $1.66
  • Kittitas: $1.66
  • Skagit: $1.64
  • Grays Harbor: $1.54
  • Klickitat: $1.42
  • Skamania: $1.37
  • Douglas: $1.32
  • Lewis: $1.30
  • Whitman: $1.25
  • Walla Walla: $1.09
  • King: $1.01
  • Okanogan: $1.01
  • Whatcom: 99 cents
  • Island: 96 cents
  • Kitsap: 95 cents
  • Cowlitz: 94 cents
  • Chelan: 94 cents
  • Snohomish: 92 cents
  • Pierce: 92 cents
  • Grant: 89 cents
  • Thurston: 88 cents
  • Clark: 88 cents
  • Stevens: 79 cents
  • Spokane: 78 cents
  • Clallam: 70 cents
  • Yakima: 69 cents
  • Mason: 62 cents
  • Benton: 60 cents
  • Asotin: 56 cents
  • Franklin: 52 cents

No comments:


About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.