Seattle City Council Rejects Bid for Larger Transportation Levy

The final size of Seattle’s next transportation levy was set Tuesday by a Seattle City Council committee, with nearly all councilmembers supporting a $1.55 billion package, but all but two rejecting the idea of going any further. Major additional amendments aren’t expected at next week’s final vote as the proposal heads toward a November vote, following two months of council deliberations to arrive at this point.

This proposed property tax levy represents the first major piece of legislation that this city council, made up of six brand new members, has accomplished to date. By and large, the bulk of the levy looks like it did in May when Mayor Bruce Harrell transmitted a $1.45 billion levy to the council for consideration.

Following the mayor’s blueprint, $423 million would be spent on repaving projects across the city, and another $221 million to maintain and upgrade the city’s bridges $100 million would go to signal upgrades, and $66 million to “people streets and public spaces,” a new category of spending that includes both pedestrian lighting and wayfinding but also placemaking. $70 million will go toward Vision Zero funding, an amount that was left untouched by council despite rising traffic fatalities and serious injuries across the city.

The biggest area where the council collectively made its mark is around sidewalk funding. A combined $145 million will go toward new sidewalks and the repair of existing ones, an increase of over 75% compared to the amount initially proposed by the Mayor. The baseline commitment to expand Seattle’s sidewalk network — which is missing over 18,000 blocks or 27% of the city’s total — now stands at 350 blocks through 2032, though this does represent a walk back of an earlier commitment to build 500 blocks within five years, a number that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) contended was impossible to achieve given the amount allocated and existing constraints in project delivery.

https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/07/03/seattle-city-council-rejects-bid-for-larger-transportation-levy/