Opponents of Tim Eyman's latest proposal say Initiative 985 would take money away from Eastern Washington and give it to metropolitan Seattle. In response, the City of Spokane is considering scrapping their Photored cameras.
985 would divert 15% of all state sales taxes generated through vehicle sales, and from traffic tickets issued through camera enforcement programs,including Spokane's photored cameras, into a state fund that would pay for measures to alleviate traffic congestion. A new study says most of that money would be spent in King County though. Here's the breakdown on where the money would go.
If the initiative passes, Spokane officials say they may dump the photored cameras, rather than lose money. Here's that story.
What's your opinion of I-985?
7 comments:
Well since I get to walk 6 blocks to catch the bus that stopped in front of my house before I-695 I have voted no on all the Eyman proposals, and I can not beleive they can say it will benefit people in Spokane, by sending our tax dollars to King or Snohomish counties.
Charles
What gets me Charles is that the City just spent all this money on the Photored program, and now they may not even be used! So, if the studies are right, we could be losing money twice: first on the purchase price of photored, and again when our tax dollars are sent to the west side!
I saw Tim Eyman on cable the other night and he was saying all the photored cameras were put in for safety, not money so taking away the money shows the true reason was really not safety but money.
If the purpose was safety, as is the claim, it would still be nice to raise enough money for the cameras to pay for themselves. The City isn't in the position right now to shell out an extra couple hundred thousand dollars.
Thats true but the city is leasing the cameras and they have taken the position that the lease payments will be made before the excess money is sent to King county.
I had forgotten the City plans to pay the bills before handing over anymore money. Even if Eyman is right and the cameras aren't about safety, it still chafes that if I run a red light, part of my fine will go to help build a freeway on the west side. We have enough of our own projects waiting to be built here.
I agree it should go to our freeway here instead of a toll.
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