If any of you are still awake after last year’s election goofiness, well it’s starting again.

The November 2009 Burien ballot included a proposal for a $25 vehicle license fee to pay for road improvements. It was hidden under a fully-owned subsidiary called the Transportation Benefit District.

I loudly opposed the license fee in print and blog. Then the vote was nearly 75% AGAINST the license fee. Apparently, rejection doesn’t bother this council. Apparently, the Burien City Council has forgotten the landslide support for $30 license tabs?

After the resounding defeat of this “hand in your wallet”, I predicted the Council would be back with a license fee that did NOT require voter approval. And here it is. I really hate to be right.

So, on April 26th, the Council voted to impose a vehicles license fee that DOES NOT require voter approval. Under the law authorizing the fully-owned subsidiaries called Transportation Benefit Districts, a public hearing is required to impose a fee – even one that doesn’t require voter approval. That hearing is a mere formality. If you have a comment, it is also just a formality. The council has already decided to impose the license fee. This time the fee is $10 – why $10? Two reasons: they can impose it without voter approval, and you are unlikely to make an issue about $10. Talk about cynical.

Last fall, the license fee would not have been assessed on vehicle owners in the yet-to-be-annexed North Highline area – they were not yet Burien citizens. Now that those 15,000 folks are proud Burien citizens and will be subject to the license fee.

So, the mere formality hearing is scheduled for June 21st. I urge the 75% of voters who rejected the $25 license fee to also reject the $10 license fee. Show up and be heard. If the council adopts the license fee despite overwhelming opposition (it’s a tradition with the Burien Council) surely the public outrage will be enough to force a vote through citizen referendum. We did that in 1996 to repeal the city’s first utility tax: we can do it again.

- Stephen Lamphear
Burien Councilmember 1998-2005

Today (April 15) is Tax Day, and tardy filers throughout the area are scrambling to get their returns done and postmarked in time.

If you’re one of the tardy filers, we recommend getting yours mailed in at your local post office by closing time (usually 5pm) to get it postmarked for today.

However, if you’re really tardy and are on the verge of desperation, the nearest post office to do a drive-through drop-off is the Riverton Station located in SeaTac at 15250 32nd Ave. South (see map below).

The Riverton Heights office is open until midnight, but because each return must be postmarked, if you show up at 11:55pm yours may not make it.

“It’s going to be a zoo here tonight,” said an unidentified postal employee over the phone this morning. “And I recommend folks try to come by by 7pm at the latest. If you show up at 11:55pm, you may not make it in time.”

You read that right folks – if you’re going to send your return in today, try to get to the Riverton Heights post office by 7pm.

The only other post offices collecting mail until midnight today are in Tacoma, Everett and Wenatchee.

According to the IRS website, if you don’t think you’ll be done in time, you can always file for an extension, using Form 4868 (link is to a PDF file). The extension gives you an additional six months, until Oct. 15, to file the tax return.

Here are some other tips:

• Make sure your tax return has sufficient postage. First-Class postage is 44 cents for the first ounce and 17 cents for each additional ounce.
• If you are mailing a number of additional forms and schedules with your return, the envelope is likely to weigh more than one ounce.
• The IRS will not pay postage due, so make sure you’ve bought enough postage. Mail with insufficient postage is returned to sender. If you are in doubt about how much postage to apply, use a lobby scale, the scale on an APC (Automated Postal Center) or ask a postal clerk for assistance.
• If possible, mail your return using the pre-addressed envelope provided by the IRS. If you must prepare another envelope, make sure the address is legible and include your return address.
• When mailing your return at a post office not on the list for late pickup, check the times posted on the blue collection box to determine the last scheduled pickup time.
• Remember, postage can be purchased at any Automated Postal Center (APC). Check usps.com for a location near you.

The Riverton Heights Post Office is located at 15250 32nd Avenue South; Seatac, WA 98188-9996; Phone: (206) 241-7061:

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King County Elections released an update for Tuesday’s election results, and it looks like Proposition 1, the King County Library System “Library Levy,” has increased its “Yes” lead to 2.26%, up from just over 1%; as of 4:15pm Wednesday, Feb. 10th, the totals are:

KING COUNTY RURAL LIBRARY DISTRICT:

Ballots Cast/Registered Voters:
200,780/647,133 31.03%

Proposition No. 1

• YES: 101,858 • 51.13%
• NO: 97,344 • 48.87%

We’ll post further results as they are released (usually weekdays around 4pm), and the final tally won’t be official until Feb. 24th.

The language for Prop. 1, according to the Voter’s Pamphlet:

The Board of Directors of the King County Rural Library District adopted Resolution No. 2009-11 concerning an increase in the District’s regular property tax levy. In order to provide continued funding for the normal operation and maintenance of the King County library system, this proposition would authorize the District to restore regular property tax levy rate to $0.50 per thousand dollars of assessed value for collection in 2011, and to increase the levy in each year thereafter as allowed by chapter 84.55 RCW. Should this proposition be approved?