Eide appointed to group reviewing funding options for array of King County projects

OLYMPIA – Sen. Tracey J. Eide, D-Federal Way, has been appointed to a task force studying the funding sources King County will use to finance programs ranging from affordable housing and the environment to arts and cultural programs, as taxes paying for Qwest and Safeco fields and the Kingdome begin to expire as the facilities are paid off.

The group, with legislators from the state house and senate will begin to convene this summer.

“This is an important look at where we are going with a lot of projects in King County. We need to balance the real need for programs that are critical to the health of our communities and the taxpayers’ wallets,” Eide said.

The panel will specifically look at how some specific revenue sources, like hotel/motel, car rental and restaurant taxes can be more efficiently targeted to fund different county programs. This includes the stadium taxes.

“These stadium taxes are close to doing what they were meant to do, paying for the stadiums, so we need to approach this issue carefully, there are always ways to be more efficient, but there are also real needs in King County that in some way affect us all when they aren’t met.”

Eide, in her third term in the senate, is the Majority Floor Leader.

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