Meet the woman almost single-handedly funding the anti-Move Seattle campaign

There are plenty of voices touting the benefits of the Move Seattle levy this election season, but Faye Garneau isn’t one of them. She feels so strongly against the levy, she’s nearly fully funding the opposition to it.

Garneua, an octogenarian, is founder of the Aurora Avenue Merchants Association. She owns commercial real estate, and along with her late husband, ran auto shops in Seattle for decades. She is using the funds garnered from her success to fight against the Move Seattle levy that locals are currently voting on.

She has given $150,755 to be exact. That accounts for 92 percent of funds donated to the anti-Move Seattle campaign, according to The Seattle Times, a total of $163, 692. Seattleites in support of Move Seattle have collectively raised Approximately $222,682.

“I’ll be honest with you, I will probably have to donate more money to the campaign because we are doing some radio and TV advertising,” Garneau told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz, noting that she doesn’t know how much more she will spend just yet; she hasn’t gotten the bill.

Garneau believes the levy will ultimately hurt Seattle’s residents.

“How long are we going to be getting all these people living in the city so taxed out that they can’t afford to live in the city anymore?” Garneau said. “How are they going to keep their homes?”

“I just want people to realize that this will affect their ability to stay in their houses or even pay their apartment rent,” she said. “It’s something the city neglects to remind people about.”

The Move Seattle levy aims to replace its predecessor, the Bridge the Gap Levy that expires at the end of 2015. Move Seattle will be a nine-year, $930 million property tax levy. The City of Seattle claims it would cost the a homeowner with a house worth $450,000, about $275 per year. The Bridging the Gap levy costs homeowners $130 per year.

The levy funds will go to support road maintenance and repair, as well as pedestrian and bike safety projects, bridge repair, congestion relief, improve light rail connections, according to the city.

“What I think is deceptive with the Move Seattle levy is that they put out a list of all these projects that they want you to think will get funding if you vote for this thing,” Rantz said. “But the actual language of the Move Seattle levy is that all of these things are illustrative, none of them are mandatory.”

Garneau agrees. And further argues that the levy will hurt more than homeowners; it will filter down to small businesses.

“It’s not just homeowners who pay taxes, it’s also people that own commercial property,” she said. “If you own a three-story building downtown, you are going to have one heck of a big tax bill, and you are going to split that up between your tenants.”

“Commercial leasing and commercial real estate &#8212 it’s automatic that the tenants pay the taxes and insurance,” Garneau said. “So basically I’m fighting for my tenants in some respects, because some of them aren’t going to make it if taxes go up.”