Seattle Busted

The City of Seattle, Washington found itself in a precarious position. With a budget deficit of $24 million, it must now cut a $6 million-a-year funding source. Deemed unconstitutional, a City tax on street lighting is now null, and residents may receive refunds from the last 3 years.

Though the City Light tax cost a resident an average of only 60 cents a month, "...the money raised was ostensibly allocated to pay for a regulatory purpose (lighting streets), there was no relationship between the fee imposed on City Light customers and the streetlight service they received," Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote.