(The Center Square) – While a formal proposal has yet to reach the city council, Spokane is looking at doubling the $20 \u201ccar tab\u201d fee that residents pay, and one official says it’s not a matter of if, but when.<\/p>\n
Last month, a Facebook page called \u201cShame on Spokane\u201d\u00a0said<\/a> that the council voted on June 23 to double the city\u2019s vehicle registration fees from $20 to $40. Some residents corrected the page, since the city\u2019s transportation commission hadn’t issued a recommendation and there isn\u2019t an official proposal yet.<\/p>\n Councilmember Michael Cathcart told The Center Square that voters should have the final say on this.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been told essentially that it’s going to happen,\u201d Cathcart said on Tuesday, \u201cThe question is when.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n The conservative said the council majority would likely adopt it before Mayor Lisa Brown proposes her next biennial budget this fall. The council implemented the fee in 2011 to\u00a0fund<\/a> the city\u2019s transportation benefit district, but the value of the resulting revenue has\u00a0eroded<\/a> due to inflation over the last decade.<\/p>\n When The Center Square requested an interview, Jon Snyder, the city\u2019s director of transportation and sustainability and the commission’s secretary, responded via email that the council has better insight.<\/p>\n \u201cThe topic of increasing car tab fees has been discussed by the Transportation Commission, but there is no current proposal to do so. I recommend you reach out to the City Council, as they would be the body to bring forward a proposal if there was one,\u201d Snyder responded in a Monday email to The Center Square.\u200b<\/p>\n On June 17, the commission expressed support for increasing the car tab fee after the topic came up in council committee meetings on April 13 and June 8. City staff said $20 in 2011 is worth roughly $30 in 2026, but due to inflation, the actual purchasing power of that revenue from the $20 fee is closer to $15.<\/p>\n Synder told the commission during the June 17 meeting that the council could replace the fee with a sales tax increase. He ultimately directed staff to tell the council during a committee meeting later this month that the transportation commission is interested in increasing the city\u2019s vehicle registration fee.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat could be done with the doubling of that money? Perhaps there’s a larger list [of maintenance and preservation projects] that you’re looking at to expand next time,\u201d Abigail Martin, the city council\u2019s manager of neighborhood connectivity initiatives, said during the commission\u2019s meeting on June 17.<\/p>\n Car tabs currently generate about $3 million annually for Spokane, but revenue has declined as fewer people register their vehicles, even as the population grows. The issue isn\u2019t unique to Spokane either; CARFAX\u00a0ranked<\/a> Washington among the states with the most expired registrations at the start of 2025.<\/p>\n State lawmakers considered proposals earlier this year that would\u2019ve allowed officers to ticket\u00a0parked<\/a> cars for expired car tabs and expanded state law to subject\u00a0more<\/a> vehicles to transportation benefit district fees. Both proposals stalled before reaching either chamber floor for a vote, but lawmakers could bring them back in 2027.\u200b<\/p>\n Voters have approved three statewide ballot initiatives seeking to cap annual car tab fees at $30, but the courts have stepped in each time. Under state law, the Spokane council can double the fee to $40 without voter approval, and once it\u2019s in effect for at least two years, the council can increase it again to $50.\u200b<\/p>\n \u201cWe shouldn’t be increasing it at all when we know for a fact that our taxpayers, ratepayers, citizens are all maxed out, and there are big asks coming, both on the\u00a0public safety<\/a> front, on the\u00a0libraries<\/a>, on\u00a0transit<\/a>, all these\u00a0things<\/a> that people are being asked to fund and\/or\u00a0continue<\/a> funding,\u201d Cathcart told The Center Square.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think it’s the appropriate time to do that, but if we are going to do it, it should go to a vote.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) – While a formal proposal has yet to reach the city council, Spokane is looking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[119,22368,295,294,293,4317,5525],"class_list":["post-80473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hyundai","tag-economy","tag-general","tag-hyundai","tag-hyundai-group","tag-hyundai-motor-group","tag-inflation","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}