By Carl Buttke
Some of you may know me as an artist on Orcas Island, but formerly, I was a consulting transportation engineer. My work included planning transportation systems for cities including TRI MET in Portland, Oregon during the early 1970’s.
The Washington State Ferry System is Washington’s marine highway and part of the Department of Transportation. In 2009 it carried nearly 23 million passengers and approximately 10 million vehicles. It is the only means of transportation with a vehicle between home and the rest of the State for those living in the San Juan Islands. However, some may view the ferry system as a luxury that is a drain on badly needed financial resources in tight times. But, our islands are actually a unique resource being the second highest tourist attraction in the State. The San Juan Islands were recently listed in the New York Times as number two of 41 places to go in 2011. The ferry system provides a major transportation service as does the State Highway system and should be permanently funded accordingly by the State of Washington.
The Governor’s proposed Regional Ferry Authority would allow the State to avoid its responsibility to provide ferry service to its island taxpayers, business people and tourists. This would be similar to proposing County Highway Authorities and doing away with State Highways and leaving local communities to come up with the funding for road transportation.
The ferry system is the State Highway for those of us living in the San Juan Islands. It is a marine highway and should continue to be treated that way by the State. Islanders pay State gas taxes but only have county roads that receive less from the gas tax than State Highways. It is a State responsibility to continue to provide and maintain the marine highway system as it does the land state highway system with permanent funding.
A three-cent gasoline tax whether an increase or allocated from the existing gas tax is an easy and responsible way to do this. I have observed that gasoline prices can vary by 20 cents or more per gallon among competing neighboring service stations. And, each of these stations is patronized. A three-cent tax increase would be barely noticeable as evidenced by the patronage among competing service stations with varying cost of gasoline.
Now is the time for our elected leaders to do the difficult job developing permanent funding for our marine highway system and not pass it on to others to solve.
Carl Buttke is a retired Consulting Transportation Engineer
I enjoyed reading your article. Could you elaborate on the 3 cents gas tax concept? What would $.03/gallon net for DOT, and would it be enough to bring the Ferry system back in the black(more or less)eventually?. If so, I’m shocked because the Governor’s proposal is sort of seismic and profound – a huge change in our way of doing things. In the balance with 3 cents a gallon, the Governor’s plan seems completely rash. Why would the Governor risk loosing all of the support she supposedly has in the wealthy Island communities, when 3 cents a gallon statewide would make the ferry problem go away? Believe me, I love your plan: it just seems too good to be true.
Interesting letter from Mr. Buttke.