This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
McCartan’s testimony in King County Superior Court came as a result of a lawsuit filed in August by Rachel Ogle of Snohomish, who sued complaining she’d been wrongly billed $86 in Sound Transit vehicle charges, even though she lives outside the agency’s district. The excise tax is 0.3 percent, or $30 per $10,000 of vehicle value.
The incorrect billings verified by Sound Transit went to addresses around the periphery of the agency’s district, which includes the urban areas of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, in areas where residential ZIP codes straddled the boundary.
Officials attributed the incorrect readings to incorrect or insufficient computer information that guides an instrument used to help the state determine which homes are inside the district.
Dudes, this is not the way to try and accelerate light rail construction!
Kidding aside, obviously this is a serious error, and it’s good Sound Transit is bending over backwards to fix it. I don’t quite understand why the woman in question filed a lawsuit, but that’s our litigious society for you.
On a policy note, this is one more reason why overlapping jurisdictions and small, single-purpose agencies are complicated.
Comments are closed.