Port Orchard City Council votes to implement new sales tax for Bethel Road improvements

Peiyu Lin, Kitsap Sun
·3 min read
FILE — Port Orchard City Hall. The Port Orchard City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to pass an ordinance putting into place a one-tenth of 1% sales tax to fund Bethel Road corridor improvements starting in January.
FILE — Port Orchard City Hall. The Port Orchard City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to pass an ordinance putting into place a one-tenth of 1% sales tax to fund Bethel Road corridor improvements starting in January.

The Port Orchard City Council on Tuesday voted 7-0 in favor of an ordinance that will impose a one-tenth of 1% of sales tax in the city to pay for the design and construction of Phase 1 of a project to improve the Bethel Road corridor.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting on Tuesday, council members took public comments before they voting on the ordinance. Two people attending the meeting expressed their concerns about the ordinance and raised questions about whether imposing the sales tax to improve Bethel Road, including building two roundabouts at Salmonberry Road and Blueberry Road, is what residents in Port Orchard want.

One asked why it is undecided whether the city will have to impose more taxes to complete the project in the future.

Before the vote, Mayor Rob Putaansuu responded to public comments and said a survey by the city showed that traffic is among the top two concerns in the community. While the city is addressing the other concern, which is crime, by adding more police officers in the next budget, the imposing of a one-tenth of 1% of sales tax for transportation is a response to traffic, Putaansuu said.

"The biggest complaint, I get, Sedgwick, which is a state highway. It's difficult for us to solve that. And, Bethel," Putaansuu said.

The one-tenth of 1% of sales tax, which is projected to bring the city at least $8.3 million in revenue over the next 10 years, will allow the city to design the project and acquire the right of way in the next three years, so that the city will have a better estimation about the total cost of the project, Putaansuu said.

At that point, the city will be able to evaluate if it needs to get voters' approval to impose a two-tenths of 1% of sales tax to complete the project, Putaansuu said.

"It's possible that this is enough money," Putaansuu said at the meeting. "At that point in time...we'll have an engineer's estimate. We'll have the project designed. And if we don't have enough, then we'll have further conversation. And, it will take a ballot measure to do something more than this one-tenth," Putaansuu said.

Putaansuu told Kitsap Sun he's "optimistic" that at the end of three years, the city will secure a grant from a state's transportation program, along with the annual revenue generated from the one-tenth of 1% sales tax in the rest of seven years to complete the rest of the project. In addition, if the population continues to grow, the revenue generated from the 0.1% sales tax will be more than $8.3 million in 10 years.

Council members shared their opinions on the reasons for supporting the project.

Some said it's important to know that the money generated from the additional sales tax is restricted to be spent on transportation improvements and that the ordinance will automatically expire after 10 years, which is at the end of 2032. Others mentioned the need to build the infrastructure to support the growing population of Port Orchard.

"We thought that this was the most equitable way and the best way for our residents to help fund the project," City Council member Shawn Cucciaridi said.

"...we have to have projects that are designed ready in order to get either matching funds or other grants. And this goes a long way toward having this corridor designed and ready for other funds and allowing us to apply for it," City Council member Jay Rosapepe said.

A Bethel corridor road improvement plan proposed by the city of Port Orchard includes sidewalks, a bioretention swale, curb and gutter, bike lane, one travel lane in each direction, and a raised center median.
A Bethel corridor road improvement plan proposed by the city of Port Orchard includes sidewalks, a bioretention swale, curb and gutter, bike lane, one travel lane in each direction, and a raised center median.

"I think we need to move forward," City Council member Cindy Lucarelli said. "Probably this isn't even as fast as we should be, but it at least gets us going in the right direction.

The city will submit documents to the state Department of Revenue in October and the ordinance will become effective on January 2023.

More: Port Orchard proposes sales tax increase in the city for Bethel corridor project

Reach breaking news reporter Peiyu Lin at pei-yu.lin@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter @peiyulintw.

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This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Port Orchard City Council votes to implement new sales tax for Bethel Road improvements