More Money and Oversight for Transportation Levy

As formally announced on Friday, previewed by The Urbanist on Thursday, and briefly reviewed on PubliCola on Saturday, Seattle City Council Transportation Committee Chair Rob Saka (District 1) is proposing an amendment to the 2024 Transportation Levy adding $100 million across several categories for a total levy amount of $1.55 billion over eight years, and adding more oversight processes. Tomorrow, the Seattle City Council's Select Committee on the 2024 Transportation Levy will meet twice to discuss the proposed levy and this amendment: first at 9:30am, and then again at 4:30pm for a Public Hearing of the proposed Levy.

Rob Saka strongly supports all modes. pic.twitter.com/hb78PlHYuv

- Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley) May 14, 2024

Rob Saka straying dangerously close to saying All Modes Matter"

At its 9:30am meeting, the Committee will receive an overview of the City's property taxing authority, (Property Taxes 101"), hear a proposal from SDOT for a Transportation Funding Task Force" which would spend 2025-2026 working on recommendations for improving stability and efficacy of transportation funding, and review the Transportation Levy including the proposed amendment. The 4:30pm meeting is tagged as a Public Hearing" although public comment will be taken at both meetings.

The proposal adds funds for sidewalks, a freight program", EV charging, and reportedly includes language to increase oversight of Levy projects by not only the Levy Oversight Committee, but the City Council itself.

Reductions, Additions, and Shifts

In the presentation set to shown on the Committee on Tuesday morning, Councilmember Saka's proposed modifications to the various project funding buckets are tabulated:

Table of proposed changes to the 2024 Transportation Levy

Most notably, the amendment doubles the spending on new sidewalks, nearly doubles spending on freight movements with the addition of an otherwise-undescribed Freight Program", and increases funding for Climate and Electrification" (mainly EV chargers) by about 45%.

Additionally, the proposed text of the amendment would require the following minimum spending on certain categories:

• $126 million for New Sidewalks
• $221 million for Bridges and Structures
• $350 million for Arterial Roadway Maintenance
• $27 million for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

The amendment does include a provision that these minimum spending requirements can be modified or cancelled on review by the Levy Oversight Committee.

A Bigger Oversight Committee

The current body overseeing the Levy to Move Seattle consists of 16 people: one member from each of the four modal advisory boards, the City Budget Director, the Chair of the Council's Transportation Committee, five Seattle residents selected by the Council, and five residents selected by the Mayor. From the Committee's agendas:

The Levy Oversight Committee is an advisory body that monitors revenues, expenditures, and program and project implementation. The Oversight Committee advises the City Council, the Mayor, and SDOT on responding to program and project cost savings or overruns. The Oversight Committee reviews SDOT's program and project priorities and financial plans and makes recommendations to the Mayor and City Council regarding the spending of levy proceeds."

The Mayor's proposal for the 2024 Transportation Levy updates the committee to add two residents appointed by the Council for a total of seven (one per district), and a young member selected through the Get Engaged program", but excludes the Transportation Committee Chair, totaling 18 members. Councilmember Saka's amendment adds the Chair of the Transportation Committee (currently Councilmember Saka) back as a member of the Levy Oversight Committee, for a total of 19 members.

The scope of responsibilities for the committee described in the Mayor's proposal largely matches that of the 2015's Levy to Move Seattle, in that the group is expected to focus on the fiscal aspects of the Levy's implementation. The proposed amendment adds performance evaluation of levy programs" to the scope of oversight, but performance" is not defined in the summary presentation or the Central Staff memo. In an ideal world, performance would refer to how the project achieves policy goals set in the Transportation Plan, Vision Zero, and Climate goals, but that isn't articulated.

Even More Oversight

In a companion resolution proposed for the Transportation Levy, Saka also seeking to get the City Council more involved in the implementation of the Transportation Levy. This resolution would establish Council direction for overseeing the financial implementation of the levy and direction on oversight and reporting of plans and performance evaluations for Levy projects.

While many of the issues listed for Council or Oversight Committee review seem well-founded, an alarming pair of issues are identified for future Council consideration: Paving/Corridor Project Scoping", and General Fund Support":

From the Central Staff Memo on the proposed amendment

I have a hard time imagining these reviews having any result other than reducing the scope of multi-modal projects to exclude critical non-car infrastructure, and reducing SDOT's general fund allotment.

Modest Incremental Change, Now

While Councilmember Saka is supporting an All Modes Matter" approach to implementing the next Transportation Levy, I'll be thinking of this quote from Councilmember Morales as recorded by Ryan Packer during a recent Transportation Committee meeting:

I am tired of coming to briefing and talking about my constituents who have been killed because our roads are not safe. I want us to remember that we're here for all of our constituents, but we are really here for the folks who are not typically at the table, and really not able to advocate for themselves because they have busy lives trying to do other things. And I think it's going to be very important for us to step into our leadership and make sure that we're protecting everybody in the city."

I think we could be planning more investment in streets that don't prioritize heavy cars and semi-trucks, and avoiding consideration of watering down SDOT's general fund budget or how we decide to implement Complete Streets during repaving projects. In early May, the Northwest Progressive Institute released polling results showing that a majority of Seattle voters, when given the option between levies totaling $1.7B and $1.9B, would prefer the larger levy.

Last week, six people were killed on Seattle streets. Although this proposal shows some tiny steps towards some of the goals of a safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation system, we can and should still do much more, and quickly.

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