PORT TOWNSEND — The Board of Jefferson County Commissioners will hold a hearing to potentially establish a transportation benefit district within the unincorporated areas of the county.
A hearing date has yet to be set.
Public Works Director and County Engineer Monte Reinders presented the board with the idea on Monday after outlining restrictions to the current budget and means of pursuing additional funding.
“We have to do something, obviously,” Commissioner Greg Brotherton said. “We’re at a critical point. Road preservation is a lot cheaper than road re-building.”
“It’s really the only viable option to increase revenue,” Reinders said. “The City of Port Townsend did one last year.”
A transportation benefit district (TBD) is a funding mechanism for road infrastructure improvements, passed by the state Legislature in the early 2000s.
A TBD can be funded a number of ways, including annual vehicle license fees up to $20 without voter approval, rising to $40 after two years, then $50 after another two years. Districts also can introduce a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax without voter approval.
Reinders recommended the immediate formation of a TBD with the implementation of an annual licensing fee starting at $20, as well as a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax.
Reinders presented state Department of Licensing data that shows there were 26,384 vehicles in unincorporated Jefferson County in 2021.
Revenues for license fees based on 2021 numbers would be $527,000 with a $20 fee and $1,050,000 with a $40 fee, Reinders said. The one-tenth of 1 percent tax would generate about $600,000, based on a comparison with a one-tenth of 1 percent county criminal justice tax.
Districts can encompass entire cities, counties or smaller defined zones. The TBD Reinders presented would cover only unincorporated Jefferson County.
Reinders said commissioners would qualify to act as the board for the TBD, if its jurisdiction was unincorporated Jefferson County.
“Much like the road fund, you’ve gotta have a program of what you’re gonna spend the money on,” Reinders said. “You can use it for maintenance or preservation. All of the things we’ve been talking about are eligible: Pavement preservation; chip sealing, asphalt work, culvert rehab, roadway pavement markings, even local match for (Transportation Improvement Plan) projects.”
Reinders shared a slide with a U.S. map showing the cost of owning a vehicle in each state, from move.org. Monthly costs ranged between $299 in Alaska to $775 in Michigan, with Washington at $403.
“I think the point I’m trying to make here,” Reinders said, “is that $20 a year is a pretty small cost compared to what it costs to actually own a vehicle.”
While TBDs are allowed both in counties and cities, only five TBDs have formed in Washington counties, whereas more than 110 have formed in cities, Reinders said. He added that none of the county TBDs have actually collected revenue.
“We’re gonna lose close to $1 million a year because of increases in materials, equipment and labor,” Reinders said. “We can do that for two years before we’re out of money. I think we need to form a transportation benefit district and do the $20 immediately and the one-tenth of 1 percent immediately to close that gap. If we don’t, we’re looking at significant reductions in the roads program on top of the reductions we’ve already done.
“If we do any less, the roads are just gonna fall apart and we’re not talking about adding to our program, we’re talking about maintaining what we are doing right now.”
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
