Fred Chang’s Newsclips

Sunday, October 26, 2003
By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — Rush hour in this Kitsap County community can get ugly as cars back up on Highway 305 to and from the state ferry terminal, plugging driveways and testing tempers.

That’s why the county needs more passenger-only ferries to get the cars off the highways, say supporters of a ballot measure that would raise taxes to finance an ambitious passenger-ferry plan.

New ferries would only encourage growth and sprawl, opponents counter — and why should county taxpayers pay for ferries that would be used by only an elite few willing to pay higher fares?

On the ballot next month in Kitsap County is a proposal to raise the county’s sales and motor-vehicle-excise taxes 0.3 percentage points each to pay for passenger-only service between three Kitsap Peninsula communities and downtown Seattle. New-car purchases would be exempted.

The typical family would pay about $80 more each year; the amount would vary depending on the value of its cars.

Even proponents worry that it may be too much, too soon, to win voter support. “I’m still hoping it’s close,” said Fred Chang, chairman of the state’s Ferry Advisory Committee for Bremerton. “But the association with a motor-vehicle-excise tax hits an emotional chord with people, a turn-off and tune-out.”

Even Dick Hayes, head of Kitsap Transit and architect of the ferry plan, calls the car tax the “Achilles’ heel” of the proposal, particularly with all of the bad publicity in Seattle over the monorail’s vehicle tax. “A lot of people have a knee-jerk response,” he said.

The plan would restore passenger-only ferry service between Bremerton and Seattle, a route Washington State Ferries dropped in September. It also would add two new routes to Seattle, from Kingston and Southworth. Poulsbo might be added later.

The state hinted it wanted out of the passenger-only ferry business after it lost much of its revenue when the state motor-vehicle-excise tax was slashed in 1999. So Kitsap Transit hired a consultant and came up with a plan to build smaller ferries and new terminals.

The ballot measure calls for 14 new boats carrying 149 passengers each, half as many people as the old state-run passenger ferry. The first boats could be running in 15 months.

Ferries would depart every 15 to 20 minutes during peak hours. Each crossing would take 30 minutes.

“We’re almost like an island here,” said Joan Dingfield, longtime community activist and chairwoman of Yes! Kitsap Passenger-Only Ferries, a campaign committee financed largely by land, title and real-estate companies.

She said the county will grow regardless of the passenger ferries, largely because of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge now under construction. “We need to step forward and be another suburban community in Puget Sound. This will direct growth to the cities.”

Much of the opposition campaign is funded by residents along Rich Passage, near Port Orchard, who filed a lawsuit several years ago to force the state to slow down its passenger-only boats because of beach erosion in the narrow stretch of water. They fear the new boats would also cause beach damage.

“You hate it when you inherit a problem, when people are angry at Washington State Ferries,” said Hayes, of Kitsap Transit. “We say the wake would be about a third.”

Opponents also say the proposed tax is simply too high for the county of 235,000 to absorb. “It hits people who can least afford it,” said opponent David Card. “This would be $60 on a $20,000 vehicle and would almost triple your vehicle tax.”

Kitsap County residents now pay only $33.75 a year per vehicle.

Card said he doesn’t oppose passenger ferries, but said private companies, not government, should foot the bill. “Why pay for it with Kitsap Transit dollars when private industry will give it a try?”

But Kitsap Transit counters that even with the lowest-possible operating costs, with employees paid minimum wage, private ferries still would have to charge at least $15 round-trip to break even.

The agency plans to charge $9 for a round trip.

The walk-on fare on the Bremerton-Seattle car ferry is now $5.40; it’s $7.40 on the state’s passenger run between Vashon Island and Seattle. But those prices are due to increase next spring.

Supporter Alice Tawresey, a former mayor of Winslow and past member of the state Transportation Commission, said the proposed passenger ferries would at least halve commute times from Kitsap County to Seattle. She also said passenger ferries are transit systems.

Bus systems are heavily subsidized. Seattle’s Metro, for example, recovers only 25 percent of its operating costs through fares; Kitsap Transit said its ferries would cover half of their costs with fares.

Fares on the Vashon-Seattle passenger ferry recover only 20 percent of the state ferry system’s expenses.

Opponent Sharon Gilpin calls the ferry measure “a good idea, but a bad plan.” She worries that if people don’t ride the ferries the county would be on the hook to pay for them anyway.

“I’d like to see the private sector do this,” she said. “Should taxpayers underwrite this? I’m not sure they should.”

But Kitsap Transit says there will be plenty of passengers, pointing to a Washington State Ferries study that concluded there’s the potential of 5 million riders from downtown Seattle to Bremerton, Kingston and Southworth in 2005.

Proponents also say the foot ferry would help revitalize Bremerton, which was hurt when the state eliminated its passenger-only ferries. Everything from a new convention center to proposed waterfront condominiums would benefit from a passenger ferry, Tawresey said.

The new ferries, expected to cost about $2.5 million each, would be smaller than those the state used and would require just three crew members. Kitsap Transit said workers would be unionized, but would be paid about $23 an hour, on average, less than state ferry workers.

There are some uncertainties surrounding the plan. It assumes $5 million a year in federal money, which isn’t certain. And Kitsap Transit would like to dock its boats at the Port of Seattle’s Pier 48, which also is being eyed by the state for overflow parking for its downtown car-ferry terminal.

The port said it is willing to consider Kitsap Transit’s request if the measure passes Nov. 4.

If the measure is rejected, Kitsap Transit could send it back to voters, Hayes said. Other Kitsap tax proposals have passed on the second try, he noted. “We need to come close, so if we reshape it, it might pass a second time,” he said.

“It’s like childbirth,” Tawresey added. “Once you get over the pain, you look at whether you want to do it again.”

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com