Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow has submitted city officials’ desire to be removed from Pierce Transit’s taxation and service footprint.
Sumner joins Bonney Lake and Buckley in making the preliminary decision to get out of Pierce Transit, citing bus service that falls short of the city’s tax contribution.
Pierce Transit subsidizes its public transit services through a retail tax of six-tenths of a cent on the dollar.
“There was a lot of discussion from Bonney Lake and Buckley going, ‘Don’t you guys want to give us a little service?’… and the short answer was, they didn’t,” Enslow said while discussing the matter at the Jan. 23 City Council study session. “(We) made the decision (to state desire to be out) based on our current service. We are—preliminarily—out.”
Sumner may be in a favorable position to opt out, given that the city is also served by a Sound Transit train station and park and ride. The Sounder train provides metro access to Tacoma, Puyallup, Auburn, Kent, Tukwila and Seattle at fares ranging from $2.75 to $4.25. Sound Transit services are subsidized by a 0.3 percent motor vehicle excise tax.
Pierce Transit buses make stops at Sumner’s train station.
“If there’s an outcry on the bussing at the station, I would hope that Sound Transit would pick that up,” Enslow said.
“But we don’t know that,” Randy Hynek said.
“We don’t know that,” Enslow said.
Another option east Pierce cities have toyed with is an interlocal municipal public transit service piloted by the cities of Bonney Lake and Buckley. Enslow said joining with those two cities was one of many options.
Hynek expressed concern that the individual cost of funding such a service would be greater than remaining with Pierce Transit. He additionally said he felt the city was jumping the gun on a decision to be out of Pierce Transit.
Pierce Transit’s Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on its 2011-2016 Transit Development Plan on Feb. 13. The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. in the Pierce Transit Rainier Conference Room at 3720 96th St. SW, Tacoma.
