The proposed regional Proposition 1 (Sound Transit 3) is a $54 billion tax and spend proposal that would have a long lasting and huge negative impact on the finances of the City of Auburn and our region.

ST 3 is way out of the realm of reasonableness. It buys trains for Seattle at 10 times the cost of the second Panama Canal.

For perspective, I have compared the City of Auburn’s current annual budget for transportation to the pro-rated share of South King Subarea’s $8.4 billion that would be paid annually by Auburn residents in the accompanying chart.

The City of Auburn has a robust system for identifying transportation needs in the city. The current budget has about $17 million for transportation programs and projects per year. Most of that is for capital expenditures for street improvements on the roadways, sidewalks, bike lanes and transit ways.

Sound Transit’s ST 3 proposal is a train project to satisfy politicians. It will do nothing to relieve traffic in Auburn or anywhere in South King County.

The Sound Transit district is divided into five sub-areas, with Auburn in the South King Subarea, which is projected to generate $8.4 billion in 25 years. There are 10 cities plus unincorporated areas within the South King subarea with a total population of 511,880. Based on population, Auburn will generate about $50 million per year from the City’s residents and businesses toward ST 3’s gigantic tax. That’s about three times the City of Auburn’s annual capital expenditures for transportation in Auburn.

Traffic congestion is an item often mentioned as a problem in discussions of city issues. Auburn residents are stuck in traffic, and you know it.

Thus, traffic congestion is a top issue in Auburn, and Sound Transit asks you to tax yourselves a huge amount to help pay for the second downtown Seattle train tunnel plus light rail extensions to Everett, Tacoma, Redmond and Issaquah. The light rail extensions to those cities are the epitome of foolishness for extending high-capacity transit to the lowest density portions of our urban area. The Puget Sound Regional Council calculates a projected 0.4 percent of the regions’ daily person trips will take light rail in 2040 (PSRC, Transportation 2040, 2014 update).

ST 3 is a bad deal for Auburn and all of South King County.

Go to www.nost3.org for more information and the tax calculator to estimate your household taxes.

Victor Bishop, P.E., is chair-elect of the Eastside Transportation Association.