By C.B.Hall for Crosscut.com
A set of legislative reforms designed to patch up Washington State Ferries’ (WSF) perennial money problems is making its way through the legislature, but grander schemes to improve the system have gone nowhere, and ferry users can look forward to more uncertainty about service levels.
One bill, which passed the state Senate on Monday and received House Transportation Committee approval Thursday (April 14), would impose a 25-cent surcharge on each ferry fare and earmark the proceeds to an account that will help fund a new ferry comparable in capacity to current Super-class vessels such as the Elwha. The measure would also abolish the Marine Employment Commission, placing ferry labor questions within the Public Employees Retirement Commission’s purview, to save administrative costs. The bill would also exempt the ferry system from paying sales tax on its fuel as of 2013.
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The House, meanwhile, is considering two additional measures of its own that could further bolster WSF’s financial situation. Amid the swirl of bills, and with the April 24 adjournment deadline looming, numbers remain far from settled: The last word on fare increases, for example, is not in.
To read the full article, go to https://crosscut.com/2011/04/18/ferries/20831l
