(The following article by Jeff Switzer appeared in the King County Journal on July 18.)
SEATTLE — A $500 million federal grant on the line, Sound Transit politicians promised Thursday to cover Seattle’s light-rail costs without raiding funding for Eastside and South County bus projects.
The board voted 14-1 Thursday on a resolution intended to answer congressional concerns over whether Sound Transit can cover its local share of the $2.5 billion Central Link light-rail project from Seattle to Tukwila.
Federal regulators this week asked the agency to make the pledge to continue congressional review of the $500 million grant.
“We took our vote because we don’t want any doubts,” said King County Executive Ron Sims, chairman of Sound Transit. “We need that full-funding grant agreement. It’s very important to us.”
The backup financial plan is needed only if the state Supreme Court upholds Tim Eyman’s Initiative 776, which capped car tab fees at $30, but which officials say left untouched Sound Transit’s 0.3 percent motor vehicle excise tax.
“We do not believe our tax collections will be reduced or stopped,” said Sound Transit Executive Director Joni Earle.
But should that happen, a worst-case scenario would force the agency to absorb a $151 million hit in revenue in the north and south King County districts.
A specific plan wasn’t adopted Thursday, only the promise of a plan.
Three Bellevue Republicans have raised concerns over Seattle’s light-rail finances.
County Councilman Rob McKenna was unimpressed by the board’s action.
“They’re just saying `trust us, we’ll take care of it later,”’ said McKenna, a former Sound Transit board member who got booted after criticizing the agency.
U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, another Bellevue Republican, has recently become a vocal critic of light rail.
If the initiative is upheld, Dunn said it could cause a fiscal crisis for Sound Transit, forcing the reduction or even elimination of several projects important to her constituents on the east side of Lake Washington.
King County Councilwoman Jane Hague on Thursday echoed Dunn’s concerns.
In casting the lone vote against the resolution, Hague said that subarea equity — the policy that Sound Transit taxes are spent in the district where they are raised — “is in grave danger.”
“Not only are we vowing to the federal government that we will have funds to pay for Central Link light rail, if I-776 is upheld in court, we are opening the gates to invasion of subarea equity,” she said.
“Promising such funding without upholding a solid financial plan backed by principles that unquestionably maintain subarea equity leads us down a slippery slope.”
Sims took offense at that. “I’ve never had my personal integrity challenged until today,” he said after the meeting.
The board has “never, ever, ever strayed” from the bedrock policy of protecting the pots of money in any of the five Sound Transit districts, Sims said.
Support came from another Bellevue politician.
“Eastside officials should stop attacking what Seattle wants,” said Bellevue Councilman Chuck Mosher, a Sound Transit board member. “I think it’s a very negative way of doing business and can come back to haunt the Eastside.”
A federal audit of Sound Transit reported last week that the agency’s cost estimates and schedule were reasonable.
The Federal Transit Administration announced last Friday it supported giving $500 million to Sound Transit and launched a 60-day congressional review of the grant.
But Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, an Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the House subcommittee on transportation appropriations, demanded the agency adopt a backup finance plan.
His criticism has echoed Dunn’s.
He said Congress would not review the grant without a plan. Istook’s committee cut Sound Transit’s $75 million allocation last week in an early review of the Bush administration’s transportation budget.
The FTA advised the Sound Transit Board to formalize its promise to pay for its share of light rail without dipping into current transit service.
Sims quickly convened 15 members of the board for a special, one-issue meeting: Pass a resolution to please Istook.
Istook will be looking closely at the resolution, his spokeswoman said Thursday.
Kevin Phelps, the agency’s finance chairman, said that in the unlikely event that Sound Transit loses millions in car-tab tax revenues, millions can be reallocated without crossing any regional lines.
That includes $29 million in a research and technology account and $30 million in a far- integration account.
Debt coverage and interest rate estimates could be less conservative, and there’s $20 million to $30 million in a Phase Two planning account.
Service increases can be slowed, or projects delayed, also, finance officials said.
“My guess is one change in the financial policy will solve any problem without touching anything else,” Phelps said. There’s a 100 percent chance Eyman’s initiative will be unconstitutional, he said.