Sammamish: What will ST3 cost you?

Published 8:25 am Friday, May 20, 2016

Come next year, the average Sammamish resident could be paying more than $1,000 annually per household in transit tax.

This is if voters approve the $50.1 billion Sound Transit 3 package, which plans for major light rail infrastructure and rapid bus transit along the Interstate-405 corridor looking as far ahead as 2040, going to vote in November.

Based on King County Metro’s and Sound Transit formulas, the city of Sammamish calculated a “conservative” estimate, translating the costs for the average plateau resident, Councilmember Tom Odell said.

Already, the average household pays $236 annually in Metro taxes and another $326 annually for ST2.

If voters give their approval, the average Sammamish household would pay an additional $546 annually.

The ST2 projects are currently in construction and on schedule for completion in 2023, Sound Transit spokesperson Jeff Patrick said. If ST3 passes, once ST2 projects are complete and bonds are paid off, some of that existing tax revenue would go toward ST3. This means the combined calculations the city offered could be off.

Sound Transit doesn’t have a breakdown of how much each of the more than 50 cities within its taxing district would pay individually, Patrick said. Everyone is charged based on the same formula.

For example, the property tax is based at a rate of $0.25 per $1,000 of assessed value. Find more on the funding model at www.goo.gl/J3E6EW.

King County Metro, in collaboration with Sound Transit, is working to develop its own long-range plan, looking ahead to 2025 and 2040.

Both are in the draft phases.

Metro is working to identify needs in the community, like those in Sammamish.

“There is a lack of service in the middle of the day in Sammamish,” Metro planner Jeremy Fichter said. “We’re aware.”

The county hopes, if its draft plans become reality, to increase the service through the Sammamish corridor — but it’s going to take significant funding into system-wide roadway, facility and park-and-rides improvements.

“It’s not just Sammamish,” Fichter said.

The Sound Transit board of directors will meet next week to discuss the thousands of public comment it received last month. That meeting is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. May 26 at Union Station in Seattle, 401 S. Jackson St.

Metro’s public comment period has been extended through June 1. To comment or take the survey, visit www.metro.kingcounty.gov/planning/long-range-plan/.

Read what Sammamish residents have to say here.