Friday, April 22, 2016

STA Taking Tax Increase to Improve Transit to the Public Again

Spokane-area voters will be asked, again, to fund a major expansion of transit service, including a new Central City Line. According to the Spokesman-Review, the Spokane Transit Authority board last night voted to place a transit proposal before voters in November.

The measure calls for a 0.1 percent sales tax increase in April 2017, followed by a second 0.1 percent increase in April 2019, with both taxes running through 2028.  Last April, voters  rejected a similar measure. It would have raised the tax by 0.3 percent for 10 years.

STA officials say the increase is smaller this time around because an improving economy could raise money at a faster rate in coming years.

In addition to building a Central City Line from Browne’s Addition to Spokane Community College, the measure would improve the convenience and frequency of bus and paratransit service.
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2 comments:

Charles said...

Hope the people that think the Central City Line is too expensive will also see that more than 3/4 of the money goes to improve service system wide.
Also diesel buses are not the cheapest or cleanest alternative anymore.

April 22, 2016 at 12:20 PM
SRTC Staff said...

Good points Charles! It's an overall "menu" of improvements, not just the Central City Line.

April 22, 2016 at 1:49 PM

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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.