Counties to take control of Vashon ferries

King County may be in the ferry business next year now that the state Legislature decided that counties, not the state, should run passenger ferries from Vashon Island.

The decision, on the final day of the session, also will allow King or Kitsap County to pick up passenger-ferry service from Southworth, considered a potentially lucrative route.

But the bill had two caveats: Private operators can't be used on the routes and union labor must be used.

The bill was a blow to Aqua Express, a consortium of private ferry operators that operated a Kingston-Seattle passenger ferry until October, when high costs and low passenger use prompted the company to pull out of Kingston, until at least this summer.

It was also a blow to Washington State Ferries, which was trying to run a triangle route from Seattle, Vashon Island and Southworth. Under the bill, the state will be out of the foot-ferry business.

Under the bill, King and Kitsap counties must submit a passenger ferries business plan to the Legislature and governor by Nov. 1.

David Hopkins, regional transit manager for King County, said the county will develop a business plan.

"If the business plan is viable, King County would be willing to take over the route. At the end of the day we want to ensure that the residents of Vashon Island continue to have ferry service."

Because King County would be prohibited from contracting the route to private operators, it would have to run the system using Inlandboatmen's Union workers.

Other parts of the legislation:

• The state must sell the passenger ferries Chinook and Snohomish. The money will go into an account that could be used to operate passenger ferries. The state had planned to use these boats had it won the right to continue service. While some say they could fetch $9 million, Dick Hayes, head of Kitsap Transit, said $6 million might be more realistic.

• The Legislature extended for another year a moratorium on private operators bidding for the Southworth route. Aqua Express had applied for the route a year ago, but last year's Legislature blocked its application for a year. Now that has been extended to two years.

• The state will continue to run the Vashon service until July 2007. If the Legislature doesn't like the plans put forth by King or Kitsap counties, the whole thing will fall apart and it will be up to the state to craft a new plan.

Many questions remain if King County were to pick up the passenger-ferry service. The Legislature three years ago gave counties the right to create ferry districts and impose a property tax of up to $75 per $100,000 of assessed valuation for homeowners.

The County Council would have to create a ferry tax district and decide on its boundaries. If, for instance, the council were to decide the passenger-ferry-service assessment should apply only to Vashon Island, a homeowner would pay an average of $162 a year to raise the estimated $900,000 annually required to finance the service, said King County Assessor Scott Noble. Were the entire county to be assessed, the amount would drop to $1.20 per homeowner.

Mike Sudduth, head of the Vashon ferry advisory committee, said he didn't think the community would support a Vashon-only tax since only about 200 island residents ride the passenger ferry.

Mike Anderson, head of the state ferries, said that losing the triangle route isn't a big blow and will actually save the state money.

"We're not vacating business until we're sure someone takes over," he said. "It's not a death blow."

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