City Council member and transportation committee chairman Tom Rasmussen says his committee will roll out possible replacements for the repealed "head tax" (a $25-per-employee tax, paid by employers, that exempted employees who didn't drive to work alone), at this year's city council retreat, happening Thursday and Friday at the Bell Harbor Conference Center. Among other transportation-related projects, the tax paid for bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

"There's some talk of raising the commercial parking tax or increasing parking fines" to replace the tax, which provided around $5 million a year, Rasmussen says. "There was a commitment to fix this, to find a solution" to make up the lost revenue. However, Rasmussen adds, "I would say there's no dollar amount or percentage amount attached to it" yet. "We're looking at what the possible sources are and what would be sufficient." One possibility: Increasing the tax on commercial parking lots from 10 percent to as much as 25 percent.

Although critics claimed the parking tax would have a devastating impact on downtown Seattle's business climate, leading shoppers and businesses to move to places like Bellevue where parking is cheaper, revenues from the tax have actually come in higher than expected, as drivers have continued using private parking lots (which pass the tax along to consumers). The continuing high demand for parking suggests that there's still flexibility to increase the parking tax further.

The council increased parking fines by $2 as part of last year's budget, as we first reported last November.