Murray's bills would give Seattle voters that opportunity by opening up a major roadblock. Seattle doesn't have the authority to tap the motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) unless Olympia gives the city the green light. "They don't get that opportunity unless the state provides the city the taxing authority," Murray says. His bills--one was introduced as a stand-alone bill and the other was introduced as part of the overall state transportation package--would let Seattleites vote on whether they want to add up to one percent to the state's MVET, money that would be dedicated to building or operating the monorail.
If Murray's monorail bill passes, the Seattle City Council or Seattle voters (through an initiative) will have the opportunity to generate up to $500-$650 million for the monorail through the MVET.
The Elevated Transportation Company (ETC), the organization set up by voters last year to come up with a monorail plan, lobbied for the MVET strategy, pushing Murray, the only Seattle rep on the House Transportation Committee, to offer the monorail MVET idea. The ETC says the current Ballard to downtown to West Seattle route will cost between $900 million to $1.7 billion. Additional money, the ETC says, may be generated from a gas tax, or a parking tax that Seattle City Council Chair Peter Steinbrueck is pushing. The ETC pushed the idea of selling the bill as a stand-alone package.
But after reading the current climate in Olympia, Murray was convinced that the bill had a better chance of passing as one part of a larger transportation package. "The chance of passing, as a stand-alone bill--it's tough," Murray says. "As part of a larger package, it has a better chance."
Indeed, with Eastside Republican support, Murray can blunt attacks that the monorail is too "Seattle-centric," he says. And as part of a regional package--with so much momentum brewing for the legislature to do something, anything on transportation--monorail funding is now attached to a popular agenda.
Tapping the MVET offers up one big monkey wrench, though: Tim Eyman. Eyman's I-776, a follow-up to his original I-695, would hold the MVET at $30 and prevent Seattleites from using that source. "I-776 would kill this," Murray says.
