Two Seattle City Council members are raising questions about Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposal to double the city’s transit sales tax, saying the plan needs closer scrutiny before they can support sending it to voters this autumn.
Budget Chair Dan Strauss said he supports transit investment in principle but is concerned that the proposal as written fails to address longstanding service gaps in parts of the city that need it most, particularly Ballard. “I’m concerned that Metro is not serving Ballard. I’m concerned that Sound Transit is not serving Ballard. I’m concerned that this proposal, as transmitted, is not serving Ballard,” Strauss said during a council briefing. He described Ballard as a major employment and housing growth centre that receives less frequent service than other neighbourhoods, and questioned whether voters are being asked to pay significantly more while actually receiving fewer bus service hours than were available several years ago. “I’ve been a lifelong transit rider. I’ve been a lifelong supporter of measures like this, but I’ve got some concerns as it’s been transmitted,” Strauss said.
Council President Joy Hollingsworth echoed those reservations, saying council members are still working through the details of the proposal ahead of a series of committee hearings. “There are a lot of concerns with the initial presentation,” Hollingsworth said. She pointed specifically to questions around the planned expansion of free ORCA transit passes for lower-income residents and whether eligible riders are fully utilising the programme in its current form.
Both council members also suggested the proposal arrived without meaningful consultation between the mayor’s office and council leadership. Hollingsworth said she was unaware of any outreach from the mayor’s office before the announcement was made. Strauss contrasted the approach with previous administrations that worked with council members before major policy rollouts, giving lawmakers the opportunity to help shape proposals and build support for them. “In the past, when I’ve worked with a mayor on a policy before it comes to council, it gives them the opportunity to have somebody as a champion down here because they’ve worked on it together,” Strauss said.
Wilson’s proposal would increase the city’s transit sales tax from 0.15% to 0.30% for ten years, generating an estimated $138 million annually. The mayor’s office says the expanded measure would fund approximately 280,000 annual bus service hours, expand free ORCA passes for qualifying lower-income residents, support Seattle Streetcar operations, and pay for transit reliability improvements. The proposal is set to go through a series of council committee meetings and public hearings before lawmakers decide whether to place it on the ballot for Seattle voters this autumn.
