Title
AN ORDINANCE directing the submission to the qualified voters of King County of a proposition authorizing an additional sales and use tax of one-tenth of one percent for the operation, maintenance and capital needs of the King County Metro public transportation system; appointing a committee to write the voters' pamphlet statement for the November 7, 2006, general election; and adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 4.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings: The council makes the following findings:
A. King County is a home rule charter county with broad powers to provide public transportation within the county's geographic boundaries. Under this authority, chapter 36.56 RCW, chapter 35.58 RCW and other provisions of law, the county owns and operates an extensive system of buses, vanpools, accessible services vehicles, park-and-ride lots, transit centers, transit hubs and other transportation facilities within the county.
B. The county's public transportation services and facilities provide mobility to residents, workers and visitors, carrying over three hundred fifty thousand weekday riders. These services and facilities, although not adequate to meet current transit demand, are essential to the functioning of key transportation corridors in the region. Without these services, traffic conditions, already estimated to be among the nation's worst, would further deteriorate.
C. After the Washington state legislature repeal of the motor vehicle excise tax in 2000, King County voters responded by approving an additional two-tenths sales tax for use by Metro, which eliminated the need for drastic transit service reductions. However, the recession following the 9/11 terrorist attacks reduced sales tax revenues and restricted Metro's ability to continue to grow the transit system to keep up with demand. Current total revenues into the public transportation fund are approximately ten percent below where they...

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