A sales tax is a good and bad thing.

For many individuals, an increase in the sales tax is not welcomed, particularly in an economy that is only marginally better than it was five years ago.

For agencies like Pierce Transit, however, an increase in the sales tax means that it can continue to provide a measure of quality service to bus riders in Pierce County.

And the rest of us - the voters - got to decide the fate of Proposition 1 last November and whether or not an increase in the sales tax to fund Pierce Transit was a good or bad thing.

Welcome aboard the bus.

The debate about sales tax and buses began with a first Prop 1 vote in 2011.

Neil Johnson, Jr., Bonney Lake's mayor, said that cities like his were part of the Pierce County Public Transportation Benefit Area (known as Pierce Transit) network until it asked for a sales tax increase in 2011. 

"Pierce Transit had a shortfall then, but when they presented options to their board, one of their first options was drawing the East Pierce County area out of the boundary," Johnson wrote in an email.

Small cities in East Pierce County like Bonney Lake, Orting, Buckley, and South Prairie said they were fine with the redrawing of boundaries and going without service.

Johnson said that although his city had collected $2 million per year in sales tax revenue that went to Pierce Transit, the city did not receive commensurate service.

"With cities like mine leaving, this eliminated $6 million in funding and not much in the way of costs since they had already reduced our service level," Johnson continued.

Pierce Transit was good with the small cities' departure.  It was betting that a smaller service network would guarantee the passage of the first Prop 1.  It didn't.

"They gambled and lost," Johnson wryly pointed out. 

Losing has consequences, and as a result Pierce Transit found itself running out of money.

It isn't as though Pierce Transit has been asleep at the wheel and not tried to brake for costs, of which 70 percent is funded from sales tax money.

Since 2011, Pierce Transit has reduced management by 31 percent; it has reduced bus and Para transit services by 43 percent; it has frozen cost-of-living and wage increases for all employees; it has increased fares twice; and it has had three rounds of layoffs.

"The (Pierce Transit) Board of Commissioners had to make some tough decisions about how to cut service to make Pierce Transit sustainable," Don McKnight, president, Amalgamated Transit Union 758, wrote in an email.

"The goal was to reset the system until the economy could improve and allow us to start building again in the future."

McKnight pointed out that the lose of sales tax revenues from East Pierce County, a sluggish economy and the rise of internet sales conspired to force the commissioners to propose the second and most recent Prop 1.

If it had been approved, Prop. 1 would have authorized Pierce Transit to impose an additional 0.3 percent sales tax on top of an existing 0.6 percent tax, bringing the total to 0.9 percent.

With this increase, Pierce Transit could fund restoration and provision of services to include special event and commuter service, services for people with disabilities and capital improvements.

In November of 2012 voters got to decide whether or not to jump on the bus and pay three cents more for every $10 purchase and see the sales tax rise from 9.8 to 10.1 percent (making it the highest in the state) or not get on the bus and defeat Prop 1.

Looked at differently, paying 3 extra cents on a $10 purchase sounds good.  Conversely, paying 10.1 percent in sales tax sounds bad.

As a result, voters declined the bus ride and narrowly defeated the measure by 704 votes.

In reaction to the voters letting the air out of the tires of Pierce Transit's budget plans, its governing board voted in January to reduce service by 34 percent starting this September.  The plan reduced weekday service and eliminated all holiday, Saturday and Sunday bus and shuttle service.

"We understand these reductions will deeply impact thousands in our communities," Tacoma's Mayor Marilyn Strickland, Pierce Transit Board chair, intoned.

"This was a difficult decision."

Let's see what some ordinary folks said about the board's "difficult decision."

"I don't like their idea," the elderly Betty Whobrey told me as we recently rode Route 48 together through Lakewood.

"I don't drive, and I don't know what I'll do if I have to get somewhere, especially if I get sick."

She wasn't alone in that feeling.

"This is a real life issue for me; I need the bus to get to work, to go to the doctor," Jim Whittier added.

Others on the bus had less flattering things to say about the board's reduction plan.

But give Strickland and her colleagues credit for rethinking their earlier decision to reduce service by 34 percent, including the elimination of weekend service.

During a February meeting, the board identified $25.7 million to shift from its budgets over the next decade to pay for a partly restored weekend service. 

The shift means the ending of construction of a $10 million maintenance building and the extension of the "useful life" of buses from 14 to 16 years.

"In some regards you're robbing from one area to cover another area," Rick Talbert, board vice chair and Pierce County Councilmember, said.

In other words, Peter has been robbed to pay Paul, and some day Peter is going to want his money back.

This bus ride could get bumpy.

"I believe (the defeat of Proposition 1) tells us that there is still strong support for public transportation in our community," Lars Erickson, Pierce Transit's public relations officer, said at a recent transit forum at the University of Washington Tacoma.

"There's not support for sales tax in our community."

So we want bus service but we're not willing to pay for it?

No quite.

Democrats on the state House of Transportation Committee want to let Pierce Transit have another crack on the electorate's pocketbook, but with a smaller group of voters.

The idea is to allow Pierce Transit designate a zone of up to 49 percent of its total service population to receive the benefits of any new sales taxes.

This could allow Pierce Transit to appeal to a more sympathetic set of voters for the agency if it tries again for a three-cent tax on every ten-dollar purchase.

The idea belongs to Rep. Jake Fey, a former Tacoma solon who now serves on the Transportation Committee.

Both Fey and Erickson said cities should be allowed to opt out of the newly created subarea. 

"We're trying to mitigate some serious cuts, and be able to provide reliable service to the community," Erickson said in support of the idea.

"We're about to cut 28 percent of our service in September and obviously this, even if this were to pass, we wouldn't be able to utilize it in time to avoid some of those cuts."

Another idea linked to the proposal is to allow cities and counties that form transportation benefit districts could charge a car-tab fee of up to $40.  Currently, the going rate for such a those tabs is $20.  Pulling up along side this idea is another, which seeks to impose a 10-cent gas-tax increase.

It is clear that the debate on how to fund bus transportation will continue. 

LINK: Pierce Transit cuts jeopardize employment for people with disabilities.