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Price of vehicle tabs might go up $20 in '09

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published November 23, 2008

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OLYMPIA – Olympia residents would pay an extra $20 for vehicle registrations starting sometime next year under a proposal the City Council is considering to maintain city streets.

Finance Director Jane Kirkemo said the council's finance committee recommends using the fee to maintain pavement, a task that costs $1.2 million a year. There is no money left for pavement maintenance after 2009. Even if the fee is instituted, the $650,000 a year that it would raise would be a little more than half of what's needed, she said.

"We have many other transportation needs that are going unmet," she said.

The fee increase would bring the cost of vehicle renewals in Olympia to $63.75 a year for small cars.

The city can charge the $20 fee without asking voters for approval by creating what's known as a Transportation Benefit District. The Legislature allowed local governments to form such districts in 1987 to fund transportation improvements, according to a fact sheet distributed by the city. But last year, the Legislature changed the law to allow local governments to charge $20 a year to be used for all local transportation needs — not just improvements. Olympia became eligible to seek the funding after Thurston County declined to enact the fee countywide.

Residents could petition for a public vote to repeal the $20 charge because the law is subject to referendum, Kirkemo said.

Olympia could be the first city in the state to enact the $20 fee since the Legislature authorized it last year. Lake Forest Park in suburban King County also is pursuing the fee but hasn't passed it, Kirkemo said.

A Transportation Benefit District would be a separate entity from the City Council and would hold its own meetings, but the board of directors would be City Council members.

The district would have to hold a public hearing stating what the money would be used for.

After the district's formation, it could take the state up to six months to process the fee increase, which would go into effect afterward, said Councilman Joe Hyer, chairman of the council's finance committee.