City Budget - Action Needed!

Here's what's going on in the current City of Seattle budget cycle (relating to pedestrian infrastructure) that may be of concern to you.

In fact, I'm hoping you'll email council or speak at a budget hearing (more details below!). The budget hearing is on Monday, October 26th.

Please note these three issues in your communication.

1) Funding "for the Pedestrian Master Plan" needs to be increased.
Currently funding is at around $16 million. Though it is being framed as funding for the plan, in reality, this is only $400,000 more than the 2009 adopted budget.
So, after a two-year planning process, they're not actually upping the amount they spend on pedestrian infrastructure or programs; they're keeping it more or less status quo.

In any case, $16 million is only 5% of the entire SDOT budget. We need to do better if we really want to be the "most walkable city in the nation".

2) They are planning to repeal the Head Tax. Encourage them to vote against repeal.
Some facts about the Head Tax:
--Individual businesses pay an average of only $91/year for the tax (which is a per-employee tax)
--You're exempted from paying if your employee doesn't drive to work
--This is one of three sources of funding for Bridging the Gap funds and it gets us $4.6 million this year
--That money is used for transportation infrastructure we need, at a time when we have a $72 million budget deficit.
So, why just throw money away when we need it for so many other things? Ask them to not repeal the Head Tax.

3) We need a dedicated fund set up for implementation of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans.
Setting up a dedicated fund with a specified dollar amount will let the public know how much money is actually being spent on implementation of our plans. Right now it's very hard (trust me!) to find that out.

You can either attend the hearing and speak publicly (preferred!) or email council, or both.



HEARING DATE
Monday, October 26th
City Council Chambers
4:30-5:00 PM Call-In
5:00 PM Sign-In
5:30 PM Public Hearing

EMAIL
sally.clark@seattle.gov,
richard.conlin@seattle.gov,
richard.mciver@seattle.gov,
jan.drago@seattle.gov,
tim.burgess@seattle.gov,
bruce.harrell@seattle.gov,
nick.licata@seattle.gov,
jean.godden@seattle.gov,
tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov

Pedestrian Master Plan approved by City Council!

Yesterday, the City Council approved the Pedestrian Master Plan after two-plus years of its development!

With the approval of the Plan comes a $15 million commitment each year for implementation. This is an increase from the original $10 million commitment. The City Council heard from many people about their wish for more implementation money and these extra funds are much-appreciated.

See the plan here: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/pedestrian_masterplan/

See news from the PostGlobe here: http://www.seattlepostglobe.org/2009/09/21/15-million-per-year-seattle-walkability-plan-approved-by-city-council

See news from Komo 4 here: http://www.komonews.com/news/60127012.html?video=YHI&t=a

Open House for changes planned for the 130th Street Corridor in Bitterlake

Action needed! Contact City Council and the Mayor, re: "Don't Lose Your Head Tax" by August 20th

Recently, Councilmembers Burgess and Conlin and Mayor Nickels proposed repealing the "Head Tax" (aka "Employee Hours Tax"). This tax costs businesses, on average, only $91 for an entire year and only taxes employees who drive by themselves to work. Some have suggested it should be called a "Wheel tax" or "SOV tax" instead.

This funding, which adds up to $4.6 million dollars a year, helps pay for much-needed improvements to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and other street improvements in neighborhoods across Seattle.

These improvements make it safer for our children to walk to school and in their neighborhood. They help our seniors to continue to be mobile. They also ensure the health of our business districts and other community places. Our Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans are underfunded and would benefit from this funding as well.

Please help us keep these funds!

What you can do:
--Email Councilmembers and Mayor Nickels (see contacts below) before August 20th, the date that the Head Tax will be discussed in the budget committee. Tell them:
1) Please keep the Head Tax!
2) Why it's important to you -- do you care about transportation choices? The environment and climate change? Safe environments in our city? Healthier Seattleites that are more active?
3) We need even more than $4.6 million for bicycle and pedestrian programs and projects, but retaining this tax would a step in the right direction.

--After you've sent your email, please let us know you've contacted elected officials by emailing us at: dontloseyourheadtax@gmail.com.

--Are you on Facebook? Join the Facebook Group "Don't Lose your Head Tax".

Councilmember contacts:
sally.clark@seattle.gov,
richard.conlin@seattle.gov,
richard.mciver@seattle.gov,
jan.drago@seattle.gov,
tim.burgess@seattle.gov,
bruce.harrell@seattle.gov,
nick.licata@seattle.gov,
jean.godden@seattle.gov,
tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov

Contact the Mayor:
http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/citizen_response.htm

Thank you!

Great City: "Head Tax" Brownbag Lunch

"Head Tax" Brownbag Lunch
Thursday, August 13th
12:00 - 1:30 pm
GGLO Space at the Steps
1301 First Ave, Level A
Enter through door located about ¼ of the way down the Harbor Steps

Please join Great City as we discuss the recently proposed repeal of the "head tax" with City Councilmember Tim Burgess, Rebecca Deehr, and Renee Staton. The "head tax", or "Employee Hours Tax", is an annual $25 tax levied on employees who commute to work in single occupancy vehicles. Originally included as part of the funding structure for the Bridging the Gap program in 2006, City Council will be considering a repeal of the tax in the fall. Join us as we discuss how the tax works, what it funds, and what alternatives to funding are being proposed to replace it.

Great City's brownbag lunch forum series is generously hosted by GGLO.

We are getting traction on the Head Tax

The Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce is encouraging its members to lobby for the "Head Tax" repeal. Interesting that this comes just a day after Erica C Barnett and this blog disclosed that the average "Head Tax" paid by Seattle businesses in 2008 was only $91.

Our efforts are gaining traction. Thank you to everyone who has written Council and the Mayor's office! We are on our way to a solution that will work for everyone.

Average "Head Tax" paid by Seattle businesses for 2008: $91

Folks who are concerned about loss of funding for pedestrian and bicycle programs received data on "Head Tax" receipts from the City of Seattle through a public records request.

While the Downtown Seattle Association and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce complain that the tax causes businesses to locate outside of Seattle, we question whether a $91 average tax paid would cause any businesses to choose to not locate in Seattle or that it would cause a loss of jobs.

Save neighborhood pedestrian and bicycle funding (more on the Head Tax)

You may have heard about discussions that are happening in Seattle regarding the possible repeal of the Employee Hours Tax that is also known as the "Head Tax". This is a $25 per employee per year tax to employers for each employee who drives alone to work. The "Head Tax" does not apply for employees who ride transit, bike, walk, car pool or ride share to work. Also, businesses with two or fewer employees and those with under $80,000 in revenues per year are also exempt.

Funds from the "Head Tax" support transportation projects in Seattle, including pedestrian and bicycle programs.

The Downtown Seattle Association and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce have been lobbying Seattle City Council and candidates for Council and mayoral office to eliminate the "Head Tax".

Recently, City Councilmembers Tim Burgess and Richard Conlin and Mayor Greg Nickels announced their plans to rescind the "Head Tax" without a guarantee of replacement funds for pedestrian and bicycle. Last week in the Council Transportation Committee meeting (watch it here), Jan Drago and Nick Licata expressed their commitment to pedestrian and bicycle programs and recommended that Council wait until budget sessions to discuss the "Head Tax" issue. Their leadership on this was greatly appreciated but may not be enough to hold off the pressure from the Downtown Seattle Association and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce to remove the tax ASAP.

Neighborhood, pedestrian, bicycle and sustainability advocates are uniting in an effort to ask Council and the Mayor to retain the "Head Tax". And, we are asking that if Council and the Mayor eliminate this tax, that replacement funds be bindingly committed for bike and pedestrian projects and that a similar incentive for reducing vehicle miles traveled be found. Most of the bike and pedestrian projects are capital in nature and bring much-needed jobs to our city in this challenging economic time. And, they help our community to do the right thing in biking and using transit and reduce vehicle miles traveled.

If funding for neighborhood pedestrian and bicycle programs are important to you, please contact Council and the Mayor this week before they make a decision to repeal the "Head Tax" without replacing funding for pedestrian and bicycle programs.

Councilmember's and Mayor's e-mail addresses

Tim.Burgess@seattle.gov
Sally.Clark@seattle.gov
Richard.Conlin@seattle.gov
Jan.Drago@seattle.gov
Jean.Godden@seattle.gov
Bruce.Harrell@seattle.gov
Nick.Licata@seattle.gov
Richard.McIver@seattle.gov
Tom.Rasmussen@seattle.gov

Citizens are directed to the following website to complete a form to
send an email to the Mayor's Office.
http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/citizen_response.htm

We have also started a Facebook group: Don't lose your head tax.

The Seattle "Head Tax" and bike/pedestrian infrastructure

Sustainability advocates in Seattle have been uniting in an effort to ask Council and the Mayor to retain the "head tax", a $25 per employee per year tax on employees who drive alone to work. The Downtown Seattle Association and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce have been lobbying Council for the past few years to eliminate this tax that funds bike and pedestrian and other transportation infrastructure.

Advocates are asking that if Council and the Mayor eliminate this tax, that replacement funds be found for bike and pedestrian projects and that a similar incentive for reducing vehicle miles traveled be found. Most of the bike and pedestrian projects are capital in nature and bring much need jobs to our city in this challenging economic time. And, they help our community to do the right thing in biking and using transit and reduce vehicle miles traveled.

Here is the text of the letter sent to Council and the Mayor and signed by members of the Seattle Pedestrian Master Plan Advisory Group, the Advocacy Director of Cascade Bicycle Club, the Executive Director of Great City, the President of Friends of Seattle and by Safe Walks:

Dear Councilmembers and Mayor Nickels,

Funding from the Head Tax (also called the Business Transportation Tax), a tax which is relatively insignificant for individual business, is an important source of funding for transportation improvements that help to promote more responsible forms of transportation, such as biking and walking. While $4.7 million is not much of SDOT’s budget, it makes up a large percentage of total funding for pedestrian and bicycling projects in Seattle. Because of the incredible infrastructure deficit, especially in the Southeast and North parts of the city, and the fact that a prioritized project list has been identified through the draft Pedestrian Master Plan, it seems clear that there is a use and a specific need for these funds.

In fact, there is a clear use and a specific need for funding much greater than this, which is why Seattle needs all it can get for transportation projects. In turn, those transportation projects create much-needed construction jobs. At the same time, because so little in taxes are paid for each business, it is unlikely that repealing this tax will result in more jobs.

We also know that reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) is a key step in the City of Seattle’s goal to mitigate Climate Change. Recent studies have shown that policies that discourage driving downtown by removing parking subsidies have a beneficial effect on VMT. Fifty- three percent of climate changing emissions come from the transportation sector. Reducing VMT means reducing emissions.

The Head Tax is one tool this city has to reduce VMT by creating an incentive for people who work downtown to use alternative modes of transportation to get to work and creating a revenue source for pedestrian improvements. The Head Tax prices parking appropriately and creates funding for responsible forms of transportation. It is good policy to support a sustainable transportation policy for Seattle.

While this tax may not be perfect, we feel that it could be strengthened by improving paperwork and linking it to a more effective VMT-reduction process. As tax experts and business owners would tell you, this tax is not a significant financial burden and requires only a small amount of time to complete the paper work. Washington State has the 12th most favorable business tax climate in the US according to The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan and highly respected tax policy organization.

We recognize your interest in making a statement that supports businesses as they struggle in these difficult economic times. But this is not a symbolic gesture. It has serious consequences for the broader agenda of making our city more sustainable.

It is for these reasons – the tax’s use as a VMT-reduction tool, the fact that the tax is not a financial burden on businesses, and the funding for responsible forms of transportation that will be lacking – that we do not support the proposal to repeal the Business Transportation Tax.

Pedestrian Master Plan Comment Period Extended to June 26th

The comment period for Seattle’s draft Pedestrian Master Plan has been extended to Friday, June 26, 2009.

The plan is a web-based plan, available at http://www.seattle.gov/mostwalkablecity.htm. A hard copy of the plan is also available in the Seattle Room of the Central Library (1000 Fourth Ave.).

Comments on the plan may be made:

through an online form(http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/pedestrian_masterplan/contact.htm),

via email (mostwalkablecity@seattle.gov),

by phone (206-733-9970), or

by mail (Pedestrian Master Plan Comments, Seattle Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 34996, Seattle, WA 98124-4996).

Additionally, the City Council’s Transportation Committee and the Special Committee on Pedestrian Safety will host a public hearing on the draft plan on Tuesday, July 21, from 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall (600 Fourth Ave.). This will provide an additional opportunity to comment on the draft and proposed revisions.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Jennifer Wieland (jennifer.wieland@seattle.gov; 206-733-9970).