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A RESOLUTION of the King County transportation district, fixing and imposing a one-tenth of one percent sales and use tax within the boundaries of the district to finance transportation improvements, as authorized by RCW 36.73.040, 36.73.065, and 82.14.0455.

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                     WHEREAS, chapter 36.73 RCW authorizes counties to establish transportation benefit districts for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, improving, providing, and funding transportation improvements, as defined in RCW 36.73.015, within the district, and

                     WHEREAS, Ordinance 17746 established the King County transportation district with the authority to fund, acquire, construct, operate, improve, provide, maintain, and preserve certain transportation improvements, defined in the ordinance to include specified categories of projects or programs contained in the transportation plan of the Puget Sound Regional Council, King County, or a city within King County, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County council is the governing board of the transportation district, acting in an ex officio and independent capacity, with the authority to exercise the statutory power in chapter 36.73 RCW, and

                     WHEREAS, the geographical boundaries of the King County transportation district are coterminous with the boundaries of King County, and

                     WHEREAS, RCW 36.73.065 authorizes the district to fix and impose up to a one-tenths of one percent sales and use tax for up to ten years within the district in accordance with RCW 82.14.0455 upon a majority vote of the governing body of the district for the purpose of financing transportation improvements of the district, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County road services division of the department of local services manages approximately one thousand five hundred miles of roads, one hundred eighty-eight bridges, more than three million linear feet of drainage pipe, more than twenty-eight thousand culverts, more than seven hundred crosswalks, and two hundred seventy-five miles of sidewalk in the county's unincorporated areas outside of cities, and

                     WHEREAS, roads in unincorporated King County support more than one million trips every day, including people traveling to work, school, and recreation, businesses, farmers delivering goods and services, and emergency responders reaching people who need assistance, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2014 Strategic Plan for Road Services indicated that a structural funding crisis caused by a combination of municipal annexations, state limitations on available revenue options, and aging infrastructure, meant that the King County road services division was able to collect less than half the revenue it needed each year to maintain the existing road system in unincorporated King County, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2023-2024 business plan developed by the King County road services division indicates that the structural funding crisis, which has not been addressed during the last decade, means that dedicated funding for capital projects will be exhausted in 2029, significantly constraining King County's capacity to maintain, improve, and replace aging and failed components of the road system, and

                     WHEREAS, aging infrastructure and inadequately maintained facilities have resulted in a road network that is in decline and at risk of failure, and without sufficient funding King County will be unable to maintain the existing road system, respond to emergency situations, and provide for safe and efficient travel for road users, and

                     WHEREAS, among the priorities for the King County road services division are roadway preservation projects to maintain pavement conditions, drainage preservation projects to protect road users and existing roadway structures by eliminating failed or failing drainage systems, culvert replacement projects to promote fish passage and complement King County's collaboration with Tribal governments' salmon recovery efforts, short span timber bridge replacement projects to replace the forty-four aging timber bridges that are less than twenty feet long and are therefore not eligible for federal funding, intersection improvement projects to improve roadway safety for road users, snow and ice removal during inclement weather, and ongoing maintenance of roads, bridges, drainage pipe, culverts, crosswalks, and sidewalks, and

                     WHEREAS, the transportation improvements provided and maintained by the King County road services division are eligible, under chapter 36.73 RCW and Ordinance 17746, to be paid for with revenues imposed by the King County transportation district within the boundaries of the district for transportation improvements, and

                     WHEREAS, given the need for additional revenues to acquire, construct, operate, improve, provide, maintain, and preserve the road network in unincorporated King County, it is appropriate for and in the best interests of the district to authorize funding for transportation improvements to support the unincorporated area road network, and

                     WHEREAS, King County's Metro transit department is the largest public transportation agency in the Puget Sound region, providing mobility opportunities each day throughout King County through a combination of fixed-route, contracted, shared, and flexible transit services, and

                     WHEREAS, in 2025, the Metro transit department will serve more than eighty-seven million riders, with nearly three hundred thousand boardings each weekday, and

                     WHEREAS, the financial, operational, and public health impacts of the pandemic required the Metro transit department to reduce transit service levels beginning in March 2020, and

                     WHEREAS, due to a combination of changing ridership patterns and ongoing efforts to rebuild operational capacity, the Metro transit department currently provides approximately eighty-nine percent of prepandemic transit service levels for approximately sixty-nine percent of prepandemic ridership, and

                     WHEREAS, to continue to provide transportation operations in a safe, reliable, and convenient manner by efficient use of a qualified and responsible workforce, and to respond to local and national workforce trends and wages, as well as the ongoing shortage of qualified employees, Ordinance 19668 approved a collective bargaining agreement between King County and the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 587, which will provide for wages, hours, and working conditions through October 31, 2025, for approximately three thousand seven hundred operations, vehicle maintenance, transit facilities, and customer service employees, and

                     WHEREAS, it is crucial to maintain ongoing partnerships with the labor unions that represent transit and roads employees in constructing and operating safe roads and transit services, and

                     WHEREAS, to promote safe roads and safe transit, the safety and security of road users, transit riders, and employees is crucial and might require additional investments in capital improvements, including road user, transit rider, and employee safety enhancements, security personnel, and equipment, and

                     WHEREAS, the Metro Connects long-range plan, which was adopted in 2021 by Ordinance 19367, outlines a vision for responding to population growth and increased transportation needs through an expanded public transit network that could serve up to 200 million riders each year by 2050 by providing the transit services, fleet, and supporting capital infrastructure needed to accommodate regionally forecasted growth throughout King County, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County Metro Service Guidelines, which were also adopted in 2021 by Ordinance 19367, provide the criteria and methodology to develop, modify, and evaluate transit services to achieve the goals set in Metro Connects, based on the performance of each transit route and the needs of the communities served by the Metro transit department's mobility services, and

                     WHEREAS, ensuring the safety and security of the transit network and restoring and rebuilding the transit network following the service reductions necessitated by the pandemic, and implementing the Metro Connects long-range plan will require additional resources, and

                     WHEREAS, the Metro transit department's long-term financial plan is currently unable to support the various policy commitments made without new revenue, and

                     WHEREAS, the public transportation and mobility services provided by the Metro transit department are eligible, under chapter 36.73 RCW and Ordinance 17746, to be paid for with revenues imposed by the King County transportation district within the boundaries of the district for transportation improvements, and

                     WHEREAS, given the need for additional revenues to acquire, construct, operate, improve, provide, maintain, and preserve public transportation improvements, including mobility services, transit fleet, and associated programming and capital investments, it is appropriate for and in the best interests of the district to authorize funding for transportation improvements, including public transportation and mobility services countywide;

                     BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE KING COUNTY TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT:

                     SECTION 1.  Imposition of sales and use tax.

                     A.  The board of supervisors of the King County transportation district imposes a sales and use tax of one-tenth of one percent under RCW 36.73.040(3)(a), 36.73.065(4)(a)(v), and 82.14.0455, to raise revenue to pay for transportation improvements.

                     B.  The sales and use tax shall be imposed for ten years.

                     C.  The sales and use tax shall be in addition to any other taxes authorized by other jurisdictions and shall be collected from those persons who are taxable by the state under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW, as amended, upon the occurrence of any taxable event within the King County transportation district's boundaries, which are the geographic boundaries of King County.

                     D.  The sales and use tax shall not apply to sales of lodging to the extent that the total sales tax rate imposed on such sales of lodging would exceed the greater of:

                       1.  Twelve percent; or

                       2.  The total sales tax rate that would have applied to the sale of lodging if the sale were made on December 1, 2000, to the extent required by RCW 82.14.410.

                     SECTION 2.  Distribution of revenues.

                     A.  The sales and use tax imposed in section 1 of this resolution shall first pay any administrative costs incurred by the King County transportation district, including for any administrative costs to the state Department of Revenue not to exceed two percent of the taxes collected as required by RCW 82.14.050.

                     B.  The King County transportation district intends to contract with King County to expend the remaining revenues.

                     C.  Of all remaining revenues, fifty percent shall be distributed to the King County road services division and fifty percent shall be distributed to the Metro transit department.

                     SECTION 3.  Use of revenues and description of transportation improvements.

                     A.  The sales and use tax revenues, less the administrative costs identified in Section 2 of this resolution, shall be used by the district consistent with chapter 36.73 RCW, Ordinance 17746, and this resolution to pay for transportation improvements permitted under that authority, including but not limited to, the acquisition, construction, operation, improvement, provision, maintenance, and preservation of public transportation facilities, services, programs, and roads.

                     B.  Revenues distributed to the King County road services division shall be used to acquire, invest in, construct, improve, provide, operate, preserve, maintain, or pay for transportation improvements focused on the following high priority road and bridge needs:

                       1.  Preserving essential county safety and preservation programs, including pedestrian and bicyclist access and safety;

                       2.  Preserving necessary levels of operations and maintenance, including health and safety of employees;

                       3.  Addressing emerging maintenance, repairs, and improvements as necessary to keep roads and bridges open and functional to meet increasing needs;

                       4.  Implementing pavement preservation projects to extend the life of existing roadways and reduce long-term costs;

  5.  Implementing intersection safety projects;

                       6.  Conducting bridge replacement;

                       7.  Implementing bridge load upgrade program projects; and

                       8  Providing local matching moneys to leverage grant opportunities.

                     C.  Revenues distributed to the Metro transit department shall be used to acquire, invest in, construct, improve, provide, operate, preserve, maintain, or pay for Metro transit department public transportation improvements, including mobility services, transit fleet, transit safety and security, and associated capital investments, consistent with the policies, criteria, and methodology in the King County Metro Strategic Plan for Public Transportation 2021-2031, the King County Metro Service Guidelines, and the Metro Connects long-range plan, as adopted by Ordinance 19367, or future council-adopted policies by ordinance, with a priority on systemwide safety and security enhancements, including:

                       1.  Transit operator safety, with an initial focus on the installation of operator safety shields in new and existing fleet; and

                       2.  Transit rider safety, including, but not limited to, safety and cleanliness at bus stops and transit centers and on coaches.

                     SECTION 4.  Ability to bond against sales and use tax revenues.  To carry out the purposes of this resolution and consistent with RCW 36.73.070 and RCW 82.14.0455 as now existing, as hereafter amended or as superseded, King County may issue general obligation bonds within the limitations as now existing or hereafter prescribed by the laws of this state.  The county may pledge the sales and use tax revenues to the payment of bonds as part of the security for the bonds.

                     SECTION 5.  Accountability.  At the end of the sixth year of collections, the board of supervisors of the King County transportation district shall review the projects and programs carried out with these sales and use tax revenues for consistency with this resolution.  To inform the review, the road services division and the Metro transit department shall identify and evaluate projects implemented with these sales and use tax revenues and provide that information in a letter to the King County transportation district by October 31 of each year.

                     SECTION 6.  Severability.  If any provision of this resolution or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the resolution or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

                     SECTION 7.  Effective date.  This resolution takes effect immediately after passage of this resolution, but the additional sales and use tax imposed by section 1 of this resolution applies only to taxable events occurring from the earliest practicable date consistent with RCW 82.14.055.