THE RESULTS of initiatives in the November general elections were generally favorable for Council 2 members.

Two statewide initiatives that could have resulted in cuts in county and city budgets failed. And voters approved a Seattle City initiative to fund transportation that preserves jobs and ensures steady financing for some years to come.

The biggest victory for Council 2 was the defeat of Initiative 933. The ballot measure would have required compensation when government regulation damaged the use or value of private property. It also would have banned regulations that prohibit existing legal uses of private property.

Opponents said the initiative would cost too much and went too far.

“The public saw through the misleading ballot title (Intent to require fairness when government regulates private property),” says Council 2 Deputy Director Pat Thompson. “They realized the radical nature of the proposal.”

Estimates were that the measure could have cost local governments an additional $7 billion. That, in turn, would have put employees’ cost of living increases and health care coverage at risk.

“Local government employees can breathe a sigh of relief,” Thompson says. “At least we will not be dealing with the mess that this would have created.”

Also defeated was Initiative 920, which would have repealed the estate tax. At present tax has to be paid only on estates that are greater than $2 million, but the initiative would have removed the tax entirely. The revenue from the estate tax funds the Education Legacy Trust account.

“The millionaires were looking for a tax break that would have taken the money out of schools,” Thompson says. “We are pleased they did not get it.”

Voters approved a City of Seattle transportation initiative—known as “bridging the gap”—that will generate about $545 million between 2007 and 2015. The money will be used to pave city streets, reduce the projected transportation maintenance backlog by half, repair and upgrade bridges, increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, and build sidewalks and bicycle trails.

The initiative will provide a stable funding source for nine years, says Gregg Hirakawa, communications manager for the City of Seattle.

“The main benefit of the initiative is that it provides us the opportunity to look at long-term capital projects and get started on them,” he adds.

The measure will add a few jobs while preserving existing jobs for an extensive period of time.

Hirakawa says the problem always was that the City never really knew how much funding it would receive.

It takes a certain amount of money to run the traffic system, roads and signals, he explains. But the City also has to plan for major projects. Until now such future planning ebbed and flowed according to the availability of funding. “Now we have stable funding so we can better plan how we do road construction.

“We are looking forward to working with the unions and making sure we can build a better city for everyone.”