Letter to the Editor: Johnston

Dear Editor:

Columbia County residents are fortunate to have the services we do through Columbia County Public Transportation. For the past few summers, CCPT has made available free rides for a portion of the summer season by using some of their designated funds in creative ways. What a gift to be so rural and yet forward-thinking about mobility for all of us!

An initiative on this season’s Washington state voters ballot could change our local public transit services, and it needs your attention. Washington Initiative 976, “Limits on Motor Vehicle Taxes and Fees Measure (2019),” has pros and cons that mean something to all of us. Good information about this initiative and the various ways it will impact citizens across the state if it passes or if it fails can be found through Ballotpedia, a neutral informational source online.

Passage of this initiative will impact Columbia County Public Transportation and numerous other rural communities and counties by reducing the amount of funds available for services. Financial assessments are that a revenue loss of $1.9 billion to the state becomes a loss to local governments of $2.3 billion over 6 years following the immediate (December 5, 2019) implementation.

Peter Stark, chair of the small and medium transport caucus (and general manager of Whatcom Transportation Authority), testified against the bill. A Lewis County news brief notes Stark are reporting that “Many of the taxes that would be repealed under I-976 go to the Multimodal Transportation Fund. Grants from this fund go to rural transportation services, transportation alternatives, public transit and services provided by nonprofits, among other uses.” In another comment Stark says, “Multimodal grant programs are essential to the rural transportation systems in Washington state, some of which get as much as 40 percent of their funding or more from this program.”

CCPT Manager David Ocampo can share how this initiative’s passing would directly impact CCPT services in Columbia County. While the initiative is aimed at reducing taxes and fees paid for license tabs on cars, trucks, recreational and work equipment for individuals and businesses, these are the very funds that allow for Dayton, Starbuck and Columbia County to have the services we do. The funds CCPT receives in addition to other tax revenues and grants are what make possible the great services we have, including the newly implemented earlier and later runs to/from Walla Walla. These funds also support what many in our community experienced as a gift of free rides this summer for people of all ages who wanted to be out and about by using CCPT.

If interested in a more direct conversation with Mr. Ocampo, he can be reached at the CCPT office by email (david@ccptransit.org) or at (509)382-1647.

For people of faith, here’s a way of loving our neighbors. Having a car and license is a privilege, not a right, and if I can pay the fees to have this privilege so others can have a means of getting to and from work, school, health appointments, and programs that build lives and build up our communities, then my vote will reflect that. I’m voting “no” on Initiative 976.

Be informed. Vote your values.

Marj Johnston

(Sending this as a private citizen, not as pastor of my congregation)