‘Moral choice.’ Ben Franklin bus service board makes decision on Tri-Cities tax cut

The sales tax collection rate for Ben Franklin Transit will not be cut, the transit board voted Thursday night.

All but two members found a presentation by bus service staff at a Wednesday night workshop persuasive and voted to take a proposal for a public vote on the tax off the agenda at its regular meeting Thursday night.

The board has considered two proposals to reduce the sales tax rate this year.

In June the board rejected an outright reduction of the rate by the board, but asked for more information before deciding whether to put the sales tax rate cut to a public vote.

Benton and Franklin county voters were the ones who approved the current 0.6% sales tax for transit — 0.3% was approved in May 1981 and another 0.3% was approved in March 2002.

Only Franklin County Commissioners Clint Didier and Rocky Mullen voted against removing the discussion of a public vote from the agenda Thursday, and seven board members representing other local governments voted to let the proposal die.

Board members and staff said that instead of cutting spending they will be looking at how services can be both improved and made more efficient.

“Now I understand that some board members and members of the community believe that Ben Franklin Transit has more money than it really needs,” said Ed Frost, the interim general manager of Ben Franklin Transit until new general manager Rachelle Glazier starts work on Monday.

Improving bus service

One way the transit can give back to the community could be offering free service to community events, such as the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo and Tri-City Water Follies boat races, he said.

The transit also is working on a pilot project to replace full-size buses on some routes with smaller vehicles, Frost said.

Both Didier and Mullen have argued that large buses are underused, with too few riders for their size.

However, people who ride the bus have said at board meetings that ridership varies through the day, with some buses full, for example, when students are leaving school.

Transit board Vice Chairman Richard Bloom, a West Richland councilman, has urged board members not to cut transit funding.

“If we don’t provide good service, why are we doing this?” he said Wednesday night. “As board members our job is not to be politicians, but to be responsible for running a transit system.”

He wants to extend bus service onto the Hanford site for the nuclear reservation’s workers.

As the site’s vitrification plant starts operating, workers will be assigned to regular shifts at the plant, he pointed out Wednesday night.

Board member Terry Christensen, a Richland councilman, said low income households are hurting now and struggling to buy both gas and groceries.

Education on what services are available is needed, he said.

Glazier, who attended the workshop virtually before her job started, said she sees “a huge opportunity to enhance services and provide a better product to our community.”

A tax cut would mean those improvements could not be made, and an aging fleet that the transit could not afford to replace could mean service does not remain reliable.

“That will drive our ridership away faster than anything else,” she said.

Tax cuts cost $222 million

The rejected proposal, had voters approved it on the November ballot, would have reduced the sales tax rate from 0.6% to 0.5%.

It would have saved the average resident of the area served by Ben Franklin Transit about $1.67 a month, but cut funds for bus service by about 14%, transit officials said at the Wednesday workshop.

That would have led to a $33 million cash shortfall in five years as operating costs, including the price of gas, are increasing significantly and recent sales tax collections have had their slowest monthly growth in three years.

One possible option for cuts would have been ending all services on Sunday, but that would still have left a 5% shortfall.

The tax cut also would have made Ben Franklin Transit ineligible for $75 million in state grant money over 16 years. Instead, the grant money would have been redistributed to other transit agencies in Washington state.

The loss of grant money and reduction in sales tax revenue together would have meant $222 million less for the bus service over 16 years.

Staff presented comparisons with other transit agencies in the state of Washington, showing that by most metrics Ben Franklin Transit was operating on average more efficiently than other transits.

“We are relieved that the Ben Franklin Transit Board finally decided to listen to Tri-Cities residents demanding the board keep vital transit services whole,” said Alex Hudson, executive director at the nonprofit Transportation Choices Coalition. “Hundreds of people made public comments and sent thousands of letters to board members, all against the harmful and unnecessary cuts.”

Vanessa Pruitt of Kennewick, a regular rider of Ben Franklin Transit and a fellow with Disability Rights Washington, said the board “made the moral choice and stood with riders.”