Mar. 20—WENATCHEE — The Link Transit board of directors voted to retain a sales tax approved by voters in 2019 after nearly two hours of public comment overwhelmingly in support of keeping the sales tax as is.
An increase in sales tax was approved by voters in Chelan and Douglas counties during the 2019 primary election, increasing by a tenth of percent the amount Link Transit receives.
But some members of the board questioned whether they should still take an additional sales tax at a meeting a year ago. That discussion was tabled and the board finally addressed it once more at Tuesday's monthly meeting.
The sales tax increase would fund the transit authority's efforts, called Vision 2020, to increase the frequency of routes, expand service to more outlying areas and invest in improvements to the organization's infrastructure.
Link Transit's plan is funded through two 0.1% increases to the sales tax: the first in 2020 and the other on Jan. 1, 2024. The proposal passed in 2019 by a slim margin in Douglas County — five votes — and by about 3,000 votes in Chelan County, according to the state Secretary of State's election data.
But some board members like Douglas County commissioners Marc Straub, Kyle Steinburg, Rock Island mayor Randy Agnew and former Chelan mayor Bob Goedde voiced their opposition at a July 2019 board meeting to taking the additional sales tax this year.
Their concern was centered around Link Transit being unable to meet the benchmarks set in a 2019 ballot proposition.
Due to limitations in staffing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and after, Link Transit's plans for expanding services have not all been put into effect. Instead, several route changes and cancellations took effect in October 2022 due to the limited number of operators.
In 2022, Link Transit budgeted for 96 operators but only had approximately 82 in December. Since then, as of March, Link Transit has 105 operators but has budgeted for 114 operators.
Some proposed to return have the question of the sales tax returning to voters via the ballot.
The conversation was tabled until the March 2024 meeting.
But every member of the public in attendance at Tuesday's meeting — close to 50 people in-person and attending via Zoom — and nearly every letter submitted to the board were against the idea.
Several members of the public called the possibility of removing the sales a "fiscally irresponsible idea."
Former Link Transit board member Joyce Huber also provided a public comment saying she would "hate to see Link go backwards because anytime an organization goes backwards ... you will lose the trust and the people."
"I'm really concerned about the employees who work for link because you've just expanded service," she said. "And now you're talking about with the reduction of sales tax, you're looking at a reduction in service, you are definitely going backwards, and how will the morale of the employees feel about this?"
Another member of the public took a harsher tone toward the board. Robert Kirkland, a Cashmere resident, said he voted against the 2019 ballot measure but believes the people who did vote for the measure should be represented by a board in accordance with their wishes.
"Now I'm starting to see that this is starting to turn in to more like something I see in Olympia," Kirkland said. "We got enough people over there that want to reallocate things and do things that we didn't vote for. It's ridiculous. All of you that are voting against it should be ashamed of yourself as politicians."
Link Transit staff said Tuesday's summary report for the sales tax repeal discussion that the repeal would "require service reductions and a potential loss of jobs" and "planned capital projects could be postponed and potentially shelved."
And repealing the already-approved tax would jeopardize state grant funding and more tax dollars — about $3 million, according to Link Transit staff.
Following the public comment period, Chelan County commissioner Kevin Overbay almost immediately introduced a motion to maintain the Link Transit sales tax and not revisit the topic until June 30, 2026 or until Vision 2020 is complete.
During the subsequent discussion, Steinburg said he was confused by the public comments.
"I obviously didn't get the talking points the rest of the audience got," he said.
He clarified that his interest in potentially repealing the tax was centered on whether the "unexpected revenue sources" that Link Transit received since the COVID-19 pandemic could be enough to complete the service expansions and capital improvements promised as part of Vision 2020.
Nick Covey, Link Transit director, said that by repealing the tax it would not be possible to complete their goals.
Overbay's motion passed unanimously.
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