PORT TOWNSEND — The Board of the Port Townsend Transportation Benefits District has voted to authorize a 0.3 percent sales tax increase to support the city’s streets, with the tax going into effect on April 1.
The tax — approved by 78 percent of Port Townsend voters in the November election — will be in place for 10 years and is projected to generate an additional $800,000 in revenue for the city.
The additional funds are not enough to tackle the city’s $980,000 in annual street costs, but city officials said Tuesday the money will go a long way to helping tackle deferred maintenance and other transportation needs.
The district’s board, which has the same membership as the Port Townsend City Council, voted Tuesday to authorize the tax and to transfer governance roles to the council.
“Very simply this resolution acknowledges the voters’ approval, overwhelming approval, for the TBD and tells the Department of Revenue that we will accept a tax and use it for all the good work we have laid out in the ballot proposition,” said Public Works Director Steve King.
The authorization vote is a requirement of the Department of Revenue and was passed unanimously by the board.
Transferring board powers to the council is a longer process, which requires at least two public notices in the weeks before the city council can take up TBD matters.
“There’s a number of steps,” City Manager John Mauro said of the transfer. “It’ll take a month or two to kind of line this up appropriately.”
On Tuesday, the board of the TBD held a meeting just before the regularly scheduled city council meeting. Once powers are transferred, the council will be able to take up TBD business as part of their meetings.
In July, the council adopted a six-year Transportation Improvement Plan which identifies projects that could be supported with funds from the sales tax.
The first funds from the new tax should be available to the city in June or July, King said.
Several Washington cities have created Transportation Benefits Districts to provide additional revenue, including the City of Port Angeles, which created its own district in 2017.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuladailynews.com.
