Bainbridge Island city council members may take a second shot next year at getting voter approval for a property tax increase to pay for bicycle and pedestrian improvements across the island.
Voters rejected Proposition 1, a $15 million ballot proposal — dubbed the SAFE Mobility Levy — by a 54.4 percent “no” vote, according to an unofficial election tally released earlier this week. The new vote count followed the one on Election Night that showed the measure falling to defeat.
Prop. 1 needed a simple majority to pass.
In a statement released by the council after Election Day, council members said they were disappointed, but respected the decision of voters.
They added that non-motorized transportation options will remain a council priority.
“The city will continue its efforts to improve non-motorized infrastructure on Bainbridge Island but, unfortunately, the city’s annual budget allows for only very limited investments in bike and shoulder lane expansion and increased pedestrian access and safety. Your city council will explore alternative sources of funding for these critical improvements, which may include a revised ballot measure in 2019,” the statement said.
Some on the council repeated their commitment to improve routes for walkers and bikers.
“I was surprised to see it fail,” Councilman Joe Deets told his fellow council members at Tuesday’s council meeting.
“I got more positive comments than negative,” he said of residents’ input on the ballot measure.
Councilman Matt Tirman earlier told the Review that it wasn’t unthinkable that the city would put the issue before voters again.
“I think that could be very possible,” Tirman said.
“It’s only been a week,” he added quickly. “I think a lot remains to be determined.”
Still, he said, he vowed to continue to “push forward” with the council and the community on non-motorized projects, as well as efforts to improve mass transit on Bainbridge.
The defeat at the ballot box for a voted property tax increase is the second in a row for the city of Bainbridge. Prop. 1 was the city’s first attempt at raising property taxes via a public vote since a $15 million bond measure for a new police station fell in a landslide defeat in the November 2015 Election.
Some on the council said they expected the SAFE levy to pass.
“I’m personally surprised. I thought it was going to be close,” Tirman said. “I thought the ‘yes’ vote would prevail.”
Tirman noted that South Kitsap voters rejected an $184 million bond measure for a new high school, and Initiative 1631, a statewide proposal that included a carbon emissions tax, was also shot down by voters in Kitsap County and statewide.
“Voters across Kitsap and the state — they pushed back,” Tirman said.
“I think there’s a little bit of property tax malaise, to be sure. It’s something we need to be conscious of,” he said.
SAFE levy proponents said the property tax increase would provide a jump start to a long list of non-motorized improvements across the island, from widened shoulders for bikers and walkers as well as new sidewalks in the downtown core, as well as safe routes for children headed to school.
Critics derided Prop. 1, however, as a costly boondoggle, and noted the ballot measure did not list which projects would actually get built.
Tirman said he hoped the completion of the current work to widen road shoulders along Miller Road for walkers and bikers, and perhaps a few similar projects, might help convince voters that the city can be trusted to successfully complete additional projects in the future.
The final mail-in ballots submitted for the 2018 Election are still being counted this week, though the number yet to be tallied will not turn the results around for Prop. 1.
A Review analysis of unofficial precinct ballot returns for Prop. 1 show the measure failed to generate strong support across much of the island.
Prop. 1 surpassed the
50 percent approval mark in only three of Bainbridge’s 23 precincts; Winslow (56.8 percent “yes” vote), Ericksen (53.5) and Blakely (50.4 percent), according to unofficial tallies this week.
Opposition to the ballot measure was strongest in Wing Point (62.2 percent “no” vote), New Brooklyn (60.6 percent) and Port Madison (59.2).
Prop. 1 also failed to find much support in the precincts of Meadowmeer (58.4 percent “no” vote), Tolo and Seabold (57.1 percent), Manzanita (56.8), and Island Center and Liberty (56.2).
Although part of the measure was based as providing safe routes for children to get to school, only voters in Blakely approved the measure; voters in other precincts near schools shot down Prop. 1.
Likewise, precincts that may have seen improvements funded by the levy — which included potential projects along Grow Avenue, Fletcher Bay Road, NE Valley Road and others — voted against Prop. 1.
Also on the list of “vote no” precincts: Azalea, which is adjacent to the recently completed “first leg” of the Sound to Olympics Trail. Azalea voters rejected Prop. 1 with a 57.6 percent “no” vote.
