Ferries deserve as much support as dry highways

Published 9:06 am Thursday, January 13, 2011

The most charitable thing one can say about Gov. Christine Gregoire’s plan to help fund Washington State Ferries is that it won’t work.

The least charitable response would be that her scheme could be both illegal and a clear case of political scapegoating.

The plan, announced at a press conference in Olympia last week, would reorganize the Washington state ferry system by creating a Puget Sound Regional Ferry District and eliminating the existing Washington State Ferries portion of WSDOT.

The new ferry district would include the nine counties, including Kitsap, most dependent on ferry service.

The Puget Sound Regional Ferry District would be funded by fares, a state subsidy, and regional taxing authority, which Gregoire said will be decided by the district — and will only affect the nine counties.

Appropriately, the reaction from those representing the affected counties was both scathing and bipartisan.

A coalition of Democratic senators including our own Derek Kilmer noted, “The state’s not asking Seattle residents to pay special taxes for the tunnel or the 520 bridge. It’s not asking Spokane residents to pay special taxes for the North-South Corridor. It’s not asking Vancouver residents to pay special taxes to pay for the Vancouver-Portland Bridge. Our ferries are no less a part of the state highway system than these projects.”

Twenty-sixth District Republican Rep. Jan Angel added, “(Gregoire is) telling our folks, ‘Here’s the taxpayers’ money from the state. We’re not responsible and if you want more services, tax yourselves more.’ It’s discriminatory and places an unfair burden on those who rely on ferries as a primary transportation route.”

As always, of course, privatizing a service government can’t run efficiently is off the table, as is reducing the bloated contracts of WSF employees.

When all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail. And when all you know how to do is tax people, every shortfall is another excuse to do so in new and punitive ways.