SEQUIM — The Sequim City Council will hold a special meeting on Saturday to provide information about Sequim’s newly formed taxing district.
The meeting, to start at 10 a.m. in the Sequim Transit Center at 190 W. Cedar St., will be a forum on the citywide “transportation benefit district,” a possible precursor to a 0.2 percent hike in sales tax within the Sequim city limit.
The tax increase must be approved by voters; the City Council hopes to put it on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.
The revenues, which could total some $600,000 per year, would help pay for improvements in Sequim’s sidewalks and roads.
The money also could be used as a local contribution toward larger construction projects such as finishing the Simdars Road-U.S. Highway 101 interchange.
Such major work would require financial help from the state or federal government.
Some of Sequim’s older neighborhoods have waited too long for better sidewalks and street lighting, Mayor Laura Dubois has said.
That’s where the sales-tax revenue could go first.
But Dubois emphasized that she wants to hear from the town’s residents before the measure goes on the ballot.
So the discussion during Saturday’s session, she said, will be a two-way street.
“We’ll give information to the public, and we’ll get comments and answer questions. There will be a survey form people can fill out,” to indicate their residency inside or outside the city.
“We will have our TIP [transportation improvement plan] up, and we’ll have a map,” showing some $24 million in hoped-for projects related to roads, traffic, cars, bicycles and pedestrians.
The Olympic Discovery Trail link proposed for East Spruce Street is on the TIP list, and it’s technically one of the projects that could be built with revenue from the sales-tax hike.
But Dubois said that money is more likely to go toward rehabilitating old sidewalks and adding new ones.
“There are projects we hope to fund with grants,” from outside agencies, she said.
“The Olympic Discovery Trail is one of them.”
The City Council plans to discuss the transportation benefit district and attendant sales-tax increase at its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 11 in the Transit Center.
To seek voter approval in the November election, the city must file for the ballot initiative by Aug. 12.
