Your input is needed: Take this survey on transit & taxes in Everett!
In Snohomish County, public bus transit is currently provided by two separate agencies: Everett Transit, a municipally owned system operated by the City of Everett, which delivers fixed-route and paratransit services exclusively within Everett city limits to its residents; and Community Transit, a Public Transportation Benefit Area authority serving the rest of the county’s urbanized areas (outside Everett), offering local fixed-route buses, Swift bus rapid transit, commuter/express routes, vanpools, and DART paratransit to residents across communities such as Lynnwood, Marysville, Edmonds, Mukilteo, and beyond.
The City of Everett and Community Transit are currently negotiating a possible merger in which Everett Transit would be absorbed into Community Transit. Under this arrangement, Everett’s independent, city-operated bus system would end, and Community Transit would become the sole provider of fixed-route bus, paratransit, and related services within Everett. Joint studies have projected that the change could substantially increase local service—potentially nearly doubling annual service hours, adding new routes, improving frequency on existing ones, extending evening and weekend hours, and strengthening connections to the future Sound Transit Link light rail stations planned for Everett in 2037.
To fund the expanded service by Community Transit, Everett’s dedicated transit sales tax would double from the current 0.6 percent to Community Transit’s 1.2 percent rate that is paid by the rest of Snohomish County. This would increase the city’s overall sales tax from 9.9 percent to 10.5 percent and would result in an additional $25+ million sales tax revenue being collected within city limits. Under a 2025 change in state law, the consolidation no longer requires approval by Everett voters. Instead, it can (and appears that it will) be decided by the Everett City Council and the Community Transit Board of Directors.
If the consolidation is not approved, the two remaining options would be to (1) keep the existing sales tax rate (note that this would likely result in reduced service levels by Everett Transit) or (2) increase the existing sales tax rate towards Everett Transit by a smaller amount without reductions in transit service.
We’d like to get your input on this proposal. Please take our brief survey:
TAKE THE SURVEY
Your feedback will help us better understand how Everett residents view the tradeoffs between transit service, taxes, and local control.