Auburn City Council members on Monday entered into an interlocal agreement with the Auburn Transportation Benefit District.

The agreement spells out what each partner will be responsible for within city limits. But the dry bones of an interlocal agreement surely will not be what gets the most attention: instead, it will be the ATBD’s vote on Dec. 13 that established a $20 vehicle license fee.

Which is official because when Olympia made transportation benefit districts possible in the state of Washington in 2005, it authorized them to set such fees without a public vote.

Deputy Mayor Largo Wales, who cast the only vote against the agreement, was uncomfortable with the lack of a public vote.

“I feel that when it’s a $20 tab, and I look at what it costs us to assist the (Auburn Valley) Humane Society when they collect dog licensing and it’s around $15, the way I look at this $20 assessment is that probably $25 percent of it is going to go to administration,” Wales said. “I look at that, and then I think about what our citizens have done in the last six months. They voted for five new schools, they have voted for more statewide corridor transportation. … I have faith in our voters, and I feel like even though this is a small amount, it’s disrespectful to not take it to them to make a valued decision.”

When the City authorized funding for the ATBD, it established funding for any purpose the law permits, to include: operating the district; and making transportation improvements that square with such state, regional local transportation plans that “present or reasonably foreseeable levels of congestion” make necessary.

Not only does the City share this agreement with the ATBD: ever since the City Council established the latter board on Sept. 19, 2011, not only have they had jurisdictional boundaries in common but also membership, every member of the City Council being a member of the ATBD.

Councilman Rich Wagner addressed concerns Auburn residents may have about the ATBD.

“As we all get used to how the Transportation Benefit District works, these are funding opportunities that the Legislature has only identified in the last few years, so there’s some fine tuning to look at,” Wagner said. “… But the good thing for the citizens is that any money that is agreed to by the Transportation Benefit District goes for transportation projects that are on our already-approved-project list, no danger of it getting stuck away somewhere else. … So the confusion about the council acting as board members for the TBD and acting as council members of the City is understandable, but I think we’re getting to the point where we can really concentrate on which one we’re working on

Here is a quick summing up of what state laws say about TBDs:

• They are quasi-municipal corporations, independent taxing authorities within the meaning of of the state constitution.

• They may impose the following taxes, fees, charges and tolls: a sales and use tax; and a vehicle fee or charge. If a county or city within the district area is levying a fee or charge for a transportation improvement, however, the fee or charge is to be credited against the amount of the fee or charge the district imposes.

• They are corporate bodies having all the usual powers of a corporation for public purposes and all other powers that statute may now or later confer on them, including, but not limited to: the authority to hire employees, staff and services; to enter into contracts; to acquire, hold and dispose of real and personal property; and to sue and be sued.