Bill for local
transit tax proposed
By TRAVIS
PURSER
Express Staff Writer
When the
Idaho Legislature convenes in January, it will consider a bill to allow
voters in Idaho counties to implement a sales tax for improving public
transportation.
The tax is
needed to pay for a proposed commuter bus service between Ketchum and
Bellevue, officials in Blaine County say.
State House
Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, and her husband, Ketchum city
administrator Jim Jaquet, have been working together to draft the proposal
and to promote it.
Jim Jaquet,
who is also a member of the Association of Idaho Cities legislative
committee, said that he presented the idea to the association Friday in
Boise and that the association has agreed to help.
Recent news
reports that his wife had made the presentation were incorrect, he said.
If
approved, the bill would allow voters in Idaho counties to pass a .2
percent sales tax, Jaquet said. In Blaine County, that would raise
$730,000 annually, the amount needed for an all-day, Bellevue-to-Ketchum
commuter bus and a local circulator bus in Hailey and Bellevue.
The tax
would require a 60 percent voter approval, would have to be re-approved
every five years and would not apply to groceries.
Jaquet said
a sales tax is a "good way to generate revenue" for transit
because it would place the heaviest burden on tourists, which he said
cause the need for public transportation in Blaine County.
Counties
with less than 30,000 residents and at least one resort city would be
eligible for the tax. Jaquet said legislators may be reluctant to allow
larger county populations to decide whether to tax themselves.
During the
presentation Friday, representatives from the large, non-resort Ada and
Canyon counties said their areas would also benefit from a public
transportation sales tax, Jaquet said.
That could
complicate the already difficult issue, which may require consideration
during more than one legislative session, he said.