PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson Transit Authority board members Tuesday approved operating and capital fund budgets of about $5.1 million that will mean layoffs and service cuts if voters don’t approve a proposed sales tax increase in February.
The transit board of Jefferson County’s three commissioners and two Port Townsend City Council members unanimously passed the 2011 budget — about $300,000 less than the 2010 figure — and officially endorsed a Feb. 8 special election ballot measure that asks voter to approve a 0.3 percent sales tax increase to sustain services.
The approved budget does not include projections of revenue from the proposed tax increase.
It would be amended to reflect those revenues — which would be received in September — if voters approve the sales tax increase, which would add 3 cents to every $10 purchase in Jefferson County and bring the sales tax rate to 9 percent.
Layoffs, service cuts
Jefferson Transit Executive Director Peggy Hanson said that if the sales tax measure fails, up to six bus drivers would be laid off at some point next year after the special election.
Also, weekend bus service would be cut and create weekday schedules that would at times result in rider bus-stop waits of an hour or more, she said.
An election loss also would cut Dial-A-Ride that predominantly serves the disabled and seniors, Hanson said.
Also affected would be Jefferson Transit service between Forks and Grays Harbor County, which Hanson calls a “lifeline.”
She said that failure of the measure would mean decreasing public bus operation from 450 to 350 hours per week. Should it pass, she said, the system would remain unfettered.
“It will keep us above water,” she said.
No opposition was heard at public hearings on the budget and ballot proposals during the transit board meeting at Mountain View Commons.
Transit’s 2011 budget allocates $3.4 million for operating expenses and $1.7 million for capital funds.
“Public transportation dollars are the greenest dollars we can spend,” said Port Townsend resident Margaret Lee, reading a letter from Richard and Deborah Janke.
Lee, speaking for herself, said the price of gas was likely to continue to rise, boosting the need for bus transportation.
She supported lessening dependence on oil and reducing the carbon output from private vehicles that burn fuel.
Port Townsend resident Steve Oakford voiced support for the sales tax increase.
“Within this room, everyone supports it,” he said. “We’re talking to the choir.”
He said that one bus can eliminate the use of a quarter-mile of cars with single occupants.
Board members
Transit board member and county Commissioner David Sullivan described the transportation system as vital to a healthy economy and said that would be hindered should the ballot measure fail.
“If we don’t pass it, we end up decreasing services,” Sullivan said.
“We want transit to be part of our future when it comes to economic issues.”
Commissioner Phil Johnson added that he was “happy to hear people bring up the carbon issue” and the acidification of ocean waters linked in part to motor vehicle pollution.
Backing up his words, Johnson rode his bicycle to the transit board meeting.
County Commissioner John Austin and City Council members George Randels and Catharine Robinson also voiced their strong endorsements of the sales tax increase to benefit transit riders.
Over $1 million
The ballot measure would generate about $1.1 million for Jefferson Transit, according to projections.
Hanson had originally favored putting the sales tax measure on the November ballot, but the transit board declined to place the measure on the general election ballot because it felt it would compete with Proposition 1, which voters passed Nov. 2 by a 56.3 percent margin.
The county placed Proposition 1, which raised the sales tax by 0.3 percent to 8.7 percent effective April 1, on the ballot. Sixty percent of the revenue will go toward county programs, with 40 percent to the city of Port Townsend.
Passage of the county’s measure made Jefferson County’s sales tax the highest on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The sales tax rate in the city of Sequim is 8.6 percent. In the rest of Clallam County, it is 8.4 percent.
Staff members like Hanson will be prohibited from campaigning directly for the measure but can supply information, while the elected board members can advocate it directly.
OKs union contract
In other action Tuesday, the transit board unanimously approved an Amalgamated Transit Union Local 58 contract agreement that guarantees a 4.5 percent pay increase over three years to the 27 transit employees it represents.
They include bus operators, dispatchers, schedulers, customer service staff, mechanics, maintenance cleaners, maintenance service workers and maintenance clerks.
Under the agreement, represented employees would see no pay increase in 2011 but would see a 1 percent increase in 2012 and 3.5 percent in 2013.
Sullivan complimented the union for “recognizing the realities” in its negotiations with Hanson, who also voiced her satisfaction with the agreement.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.