Triplett: Shift money from foot ferries, fingerprint system to bolster Metro

King County Executive Kurt Triplett said he wants to keep the county's promise to improve six major Metro bus corridors by using money that's earmarked for future passenger ferries and a fingerprint information service.

Triplett would raise property taxes to help King County Metro Transit, and cut taxes by a like amount being collected for the foot ferries and a fingerprint system.

It's a "revenue neutral" plan, he said.

He would keep the Elliott Bay Water Taxi in West Seattle and the Vashon foot ferry — but suspend five future routes on Lake Washington and Puget Sound.

Councilmember Larry Phillips of Magnolia would go further, cutting the West Seattle and Vashon routes, too. He argues the routes serve only one of nine council districts.

If approved, Triplett's tax switch would raise $36 million during the 2010-11 biennium, partly offsetting an expected $200 million shortfall, he said.

Triplett aims to protect future RapidRide lines serving Ballard, West Seattle, Aurora Avenue, the Highway 99 corridor to Federal Way, and the Bellevue-Overlake-Redmond area. RapidRide was the centerpiece of the 2006 Transit Now ballot measure, in which voters approved a sales-tax boost. Also, the county could still pay its share for a new Highway 520 line, mainly funded by a $127 million federal grant.

Councilmember Dow Constantine of West Seattle supports Triplett's plan. Both Constantine and Phillips are running for county executive.

The property tax going to Metro would increase 5.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — $22 per year on a $400,000 home. The ferry property tax would decline 4.5 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System tax 1 cent.

"In these economic times, more passenger ferry routes are a luxury we cannot afford," Triplett said. "We must invest precious transportation tax dollars where they deliver the most benefit."

Metro predicts ridership would grow 50 percent in the RapidRide corridors over six years, or an estimated 23,000 trips a day, if the service is improved. The plan includes roomier buses, priority at traffic signals, arrivals every 10 minutes, and improvements to bus stops and road lanes.

In November 2007, an 8-to-1 council majority (Reagan Dunn of Maple Valley voted no) created a ferry district and enacted a new property tax, without putting the issue to the voters.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com