City of Auburn staff have presented a one-time funding option to the City Council to add more than $2.8 million dollars to 2018 arterial road preservation projects.
The option is in response to the request to examine alternate ways to fund road projects in lieu of a previously-approved $20 car tab fee by the Transportation Benefit District.
The proposed funding is a combination of approximately $1.6 million in reallocated Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) project dollars and $1.3 million of the City’s surplus general fund balance. In June, the City’s Finance Director Shelley Coleman brought forward the proposal to delay some non-emergent REET-funded projects and reduce the 2017 ending fund balance and put those funds forward for 2018 road projects.
The 2017-2018 REET projects that were proposed to be deferred to future budget years are as follows:
• Auburn environmental boardwalk
• Downtown wayfinding program
• Citywide bridge railing replacements
• Mary Olson Farm land acquisition
• Lakeland Hills nature park
• M&O storage bay improvements
• M&O vehicle bay maintenance
• M&O fuel tank
• M&O master planning
• City Hall exterior structural repairs
• City Hall roof replacement
The deferred projects are funded through the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) – a tax collected on all real estate sales. REET money can be used for public works projects of a local government for planning, acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, replacement, rehabilitation, or improvement of streets; roads; highways; sidewalks; street and road lighting systems; traffic signals; bridges; domestic water systems; storm and sanitary sewer systems; parks; recreational facilities; law enforcement facilities; fire protection facilities; trails; libraries; administrative facilities, judicial facilities, river flood control projects. The projects will now be pushed out to future budget years. (See attachment)
The City has two major road preservation programs. The Save Our Streets program (local street preservation) and the Arterial and Collector Preservation program with separate funding sources. The SOS program is funded by sales tax on new construction within the city. The SOS fund is solely used to preserve or rebuild local street pavement and associated infrastructure.
The Arterial and Collector Preservation program is responsible for maintaining the overall condition of approximately 100 centerline miles of roadway that are vital to the City. These roads carry the vast majority of traffic, goods and services to and from the regional growth center and connect Auburn to the greater Puget Sound Region. The City allocates 1 percent of the utility taxes toward arterial street preservation. In addition, the City supplements these funds when it can with federal grants that are awarded through competitive region wide programs.
City staff is in the planning stages of what projects will be added or expanded in the 2018 construction cycle.
