Chamber: don’t use B&O tax revenue for 256th Street project

Published 5:37 pm Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Kent Chamber of Commerce disapproves of the use of business and occupation (B&O) tax revenue to pay for a portion of the maintenance and improvements to Southeast 256th Street on the East Hill.

While this project needs to happen, it was not on a list of priorities established by the citizens advisory committee when transportation projects and funding were recently being analyzed by the City Council.

This project should be able to be fully funded with the city’s normal revenue sources as such projects were to be funded prior to adoption of the B&O tax.

The chamber reluctantly supported the B&O tax as a revenue source for the highest priority transportation needs in the city, as identified by the citizens advisory committee. Using B&O tax revenue to repair and upgrade 256th Street will divert those funds from projects that were deemed more important for the city by that committee.

– Andrea Keikkala, executive director, Kent Chamber of Commerce