Transit tax increase on August ballot

The Intercity Transit Authority has directed staff to place a tax increase on the August ballot of .02 percent, even though many of the commissioners wanted to go to .03 percent.

Authority commissioners represent their respective cities and all of them said their city wrestled with the idea of .03 or .02 percent.  In the end they all opted for .02 percent increase.

If approved by the voters in August, the new increase will take Intercity Transit from the current .06 percent to .08 percent.   It is allowed by state law to go to .09 percent, but currently only 3 of the 25 state transit agencies are at the maximum.

Passing the tax increase during this period of recession won’t be easy.  Whatcom County transit authority just ran a ballot measure to increase its tax rate from .06 to 08 percent, the same as Intercity Transit.  It failed to garner a 50 percent approval.