In the event that the proceeds of federal contributions, plus any other moneys of the RTA [Regional Transportation Authority, Sound Transit] legally available, are insufficient to accomplish all of the capital improvements provided by this Resolution, the RTA shall use the available funds for paying the cost of those improvements that are contained in the Ten–Year Regional Transit System Plan and are deemed by **351 the Board to be most necessary and in the best interests of the RTA after consideration of the financial policies approved by Resolution No. 72. In *70 the event that the Ten–Year Regional Transit System Plan improvements, or some portion thereof, are impractical to accomplish due to changed conditions or force majeure events, the RTA may use the available funds to pay principal of or interest on bonds, to reduce tax levies, or to pay for other capital and/or service improvements that achieve the stated goals of said plan, as the Board in its discretion shall determine as appropriate or necessary in accordance with law and Board policy.
System completion within ten years—different parts and segments of the plan will be implemented in stages and be operational as soon as possible; the entire system will be completed and operational within ten years.
[T]en-year implementation—Different parts and segments of the plan will be implemented in stages and be operational as soon as possible. The RTA is committed to the entire system being completed and operational within 10 years.
System expansion or tax rollback—Any second phase capital program which continues local taxes for financing will require voter approval within the RTA District. If voters decide not to extend the system, the RTA will roll back the tax rate to a level sufficient to pay off the bonds and operate and maintain the investments made as part of Sound Move.
Any second phase capital program which continues local taxes for financing will require approval by a vote of those ... within the RTA District.
Because transit facilities provide benefits over a long span of time, it is reasonable to finance their construction over a period **355 that extends beyond the ten-year system plan construction timeframe.
System expansion or tax rollback—Any second phase capital program which continues local taxes for financing will require voter approved [sic] within the RTA District. If voters decide not to extend the system, the RTA will roll back the tax rate to a level sufficient to pay off the outstanding bonds and operate and maintain the investments made as part of Sound Move.
(8) Agencies shall provide to the registered voters in the area a document describing the systems plan and the financing plan set forth in RCW 81.104.100. It shall also describe the relationship of the system to regional issues such as development density at station locations and activity centers, and the interrelationship of the system to adopted land use and transportation demand management goals within the region. This document shall be provided to the voters at least twenty days prior to the date of the election.
A conscientious voter who read every word of the text of SJR 1, the ballot title, the official explanation of the effect of the measure and the statement for the proposal would not find a whisper of suggestion that its impact would not be felt until 1974. We refuse to attribute to the average informed voter or even the better-than-average informed voter the legal theory that the proposed amendment hinged on the complex scheme of levying taxes in one year and collecting them in the next year, so that all taxes levied in 1972 were beyond the reach of SJR 1. If that was intended by the drafters of the measure, it would have been simple to say so.
In the interpretation of statutes levying taxes it is the established rule not to extend their provisions, by implication, beyond the clear import of the language used, or to enlarge *97 their operations so as to embrace matters not specifically pointed out. Incase of doubt they are construed most strongly against the Government, and in favor of the citizen.
To implement a regional rail and express bus system linking Tacoma, Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, other cities, and Sea–Tac airport, shall the Regional Transit Authority impose a sales and use tax of up to four-tenths of one percent and a motor vehicle excise tax of three-tenths of one percent to provide the local share of funding towards the $3.9 billion estimated cost of the system, as provided in Resolution 75 and the “Ten–Year Regional Transit Plan”?
[W]e think [the mere movement of the water main's location] mistakes the project as being one of several items each standing by itself, rather than one project composed of several items related to each other and endorsed and approved as a *103 whole by the voters. There is no way of knowing just what portion of the project appealed to the voters. It may be, that the laying of the main on 20th street was considered of primary importance to a great many, and if that item had not been included they would have refused endorsement of the project.
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