Ridgefield is the latest city in Clark County to pass a $20 vehicle license fee through a transportation benefit district.
The district, which is made up of Ridgefield’s city councilors but considered a separate entity, approved the fee in late December. It will go into effect June 18.
“The additional funding will complete maintenance on a majority of our main and neighborhood streets in the next 10 years,” City Manager Steve Stuart said. “It allows us to get into neighborhood streets before they break down, which is a significant cost savings.”
Washougal’s transportation benefit district passed a $20 license tab fee in November, which will start in 2019. The two cities join Vancouver and Battle Ground in adding license fees through a transportation benefit district. Vancouver’s fee started in 2016, and the city’s district voted to increase the fee from $20 to $40 in December 2017. Battle Ground’s $20 fee started in 2015.
“We’ve learned from some of what they’ve done,” Stuart said, adding that the goal is to “get more roads fixed early on to save money.”
In 2019, the license fee is expected to bring Ridgefield $67,092, which can only be used to pay for local transportation projects, per state code. That revenue is expected to increase to $143,451 in 2020, the first full year its implemented in Ridgefield.
“The council has, in the last four years, more than quadrupled our investment in road maintenance from the general fund,” Stuart said. “(City councilors) saw the writing on the wall. As much as they were increasing the investment, there was still a big gap between the funding and the need.”
In 2013, city councilors put $40,000 from Ridgefield’s general fund toward road maintenance. In 2017, that figure increased to $175,000. Ridgefield’s budget for 2017, 2018 and 2019 set aside $175,000 for road maintenance. The new transportation benefit district revenue will be added to that amount.
“The purpose was to not clear up the money to use elsewhere,” Stuart said. “It was to put more into road maintenance.”
While Ridgefield has rapidly grown in recent years — and has been named the fastest-growing city in the state from 2013 to 2014 and from 2017 to 2018 — the need to increase road maintenance isn’t for the newer developments that have popped up in recent years, Stuart said.
“The increase revenue is going to allow us to fix neighborhood streets that are 10 to 15 years old,” he said. “The increase in revenue and the increased need are coming from areas that developed 10 to 20 years ago. Those are the streets that are starting to break down.”
Vancouver, Battle Ground updates
In 2019, Vancouver officials are expecting their transportation benefit district to bring in around $4.8 million. At $20, the district earned about $2.4 million a year, which went up to about $3.6 million in 2018 with half a year of $40 fees.
The transportation benefit district is one aspect of the city’s Street Funding Strategy, according to Chris Malone, finance and asset manager with the city’s public works department. Malone said the funding strategy uses transportation benefit district funds, utility tax dollars, business license surcharge fees, state gas tax and paid off debt. He added that the city can use the transportation benefit district money to leverage state and federal grant dollars to complete larger projects.
In 2018, Vancouver spent $200,000 on the traffic signal and lighting sustainability program, $1 million on pavement preservation, $500,000 on multimodal, safety and accessibility projects, $100,000 on the neighborhood traffic management program and $1 million on the Northeast 18th Street Improvement Project.
The plan for 2019 is to put the same funding into the same projects, except for 18th Street. Instead, $1 million from the transportation benefit district will be used for the Southeast First Street Improvement Project.
“With this new pot of money, it allows us to do a much more robust program,” Malone said. “Previously, these projects were funded, but at a much lower level.”
Battle Ground officials toyed with the idea of raising their license fee to $40 in 2018, but ultimately took no formal action on raising the fee or tabling the discussion. Battle Ground uses the funds for ongoing transportation improvements that preserve, maintain, and construct or reconstruct the transportation infrastructure.
Revenue from the district has increased every year it has been implemented. It raised $92,624 in 2015; $255,281 in 2016; $275,774 in 2017; and $284,368 in 2018. It is anticipated to bring in $290,000 this year.
Projects funded in 2018 included repainting of roadway center lines and fog lines, repainting street markings, such as crosswalks and turn arrows, and crack and slurry sealing of roadways in all four quadrants of the city.
Adam Littman: 360-735-4518; adam.littman@columbian.com; twitter.com/a_littman
