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Commissioners weigh sales-tax renewal, mill levy and bonding to pay for streets
Summary
After the PCI presentation, commissioners and staff discussed options including renewing the existing 0.2% streets sales tax, folding a 0.25% quality-of-life levy into streets funding, adopting a dedicated mill levy, or issuing bonds/temp notes; staff cautioned about contractor capacity and cash management trade-offs.
Commissioners explored several ways to pay for the street investment the PCI model suggests are needed.
Manager Doolin and other staff outlined options: renewing the 0.2% streets sales tax, combining the 0.25% quality‑of‑life sales tax into a larger dedicated measure, imposing a mill levy dedicated to streets, or using bonding/temporary notes to accelerate work.
Staff warned that bonding or a sudden multi‑year surge in projects would require contractors to gear up and could increase costs. "If I have one bid that's 30% over my estimate, I have to move everything back 6 to 9 months," Johnson said, illustrating cash‑management risks. Commissioners discussed balancing neighborhood impacts, the political acceptability of sunsets for tax measures, and the fairness of sales tax versus property tax funding.
