Yer doin' it wrong - again

McGinn proposes $20 car tab fee to help pay for streets

Seattle's budget problems keep getting bumpier.

City transportation workers will repair fewer potholes this year due to a $7.8 million budget gap for the Seattle Department of Transportation. To help fill the budget hole, there will be one less crew out filling holes in the street, Mayor Mike McGinn said Wednesday.

SDOT is eliminating one pothole repair crew to save about $868,000. (SDOT = Seattle Department of Transportation)

$868,000?!?! Geez Louise, how much do those guys make? Yeah, I know, the cost of materials, tools, and vehicle expenses are also factored in to that figure, but still. One crew? $868,000? Really?

McGinn used the pothole example to explain his proposal to increase the commercial parking tax and impose a $20 vehicle licensing fee for next year's budget to help the city keep up with street maintenance. Some might think they've heard this before. After all, the Bridging the Gap levy passed in 2006 was supposed to provide extra money to catch up with the city's maintenance backlog.

But McGinn says SDOT's budget also shrunk over the past few years, offsetting extra revenue from Bridging the Gap.

Can someone explain to me how a shrinking budget offsets revenue? I mean, doesn't a shrinking budget typically mean that you are cutting expenditures, so therefore revenue would increase the amount of funds on hand?

McGinn said he'll propose boosting the parking tax by 5 to 10 percent, which would generate $10-$20 million annually. The licensing fee would raise about $7 million per year, he said.SDOT's cuts represent about 14 percent of its $55 million budget.

The funds generated are, of course, projected amounts. One thing that Dems never seem to get is that when you increase fees and/or taxes is that people are going to be less inclined, not more, to avail themselves of the product or service impacted by those higher fees and/or taxes. It's simple economics.

The other thing they don't seem to get is that by increasing the commercial parking tax, less people are going to be willing to come into the city to purchase goods, eat at restaurants, go to a movie or stage show, etc., thereby hurting local city businesses, resulting in less overall tax revenue for the city. If it costs more to do or get something, the less inclined people are going to be to do or get. Especially in this economy. Duh!

SDOT also will reduce preventative maintenance on street signals and curb markings

Speaking from a maintenance tech's point of view, spending less on preventive maintenance will only cost you more in the long run on repairs. Doing preventive maintenance allows you to find and correct problems before they cause a "catastrophic failure" in the system or device affected. It is usually cheaper to repair something than to replace it. And in this particular example of doing less preventive maintenance on traffic signals, there is the liability issue to keep in mind. For example, if a traffic signal has a "catastrophic failure" at the wrong time, and results in a traffic accident that would have been prevented if the signal had been properly maintained so that it was functioning properly, the city could be opening itself to a hefty lawsuit.

Mayor Mike McGinn - doin' it wrong - again