Gov. Gregoire's ferry-district plan should be scuttled

By now, most Washingtonians realize that state government must become smaller and more efficient. But we should be wary of efforts to offer public services on an a la carte menu.

Facing a daunting budget crisis, Gov. Chris Gregoire proposes a regional ferry district to make up for lost funding to state ferries. If approved — and it shouldn't be — residents in nine Puget Sound counties would be asked to pay higher taxes to maintain current service.

Washington's ferry system is the largest and proudest in the country, owned by the whole state. Ferries are one of our icons, a symbol of our way of life in a region tied to water.

Regionalizing part of the transportation system — remember, ferries are identified in the state constitution as an extension of highways — means falling into a trap and the start of something bad.

Flash back 11 years and a jillion Tim Eyman initiatives ago. In 1999, during the car-tab initiative debate, state and local governments warned that various public amenities, especially ferry service, would be reduced if the motor vehicle excise tax was slashed as proposed.

Voters said bring it on, we'll live with the consequences, and for a long while, patches in funding made those threats seem like scare tactics. But now real results are emerging. In recent years, ferry runs have been cut while fares have gone up and up — including a humdinger increase in 2001 of 20 percent.

But that still does not leave sufficient cash for current levels of service and new boats. It's like living in your house for 20 years and never bothering to patch the roof. And now it's winter and it leaks.

Recall how battle lines were drawn a decade ago and how that $30 car-tab initiative brought out the worst in many people. Public officials across the state lambasted looming cuts that would result from lower revenue. Fewer sheriff deputies. Reduced bus service. A trashed ferry system.

People voting for the initiative said at the time, "I don't ride the ferries, so why should I pay for them?" Or, "I only want to pay for government services I use."

All of which made me cringe. Spin that thinking out over time. Where does it take us? Somewhere pretty far from the commonweal.

Government on an a la carte basis is a shaky idea. Let's say you decide you don't want to pay for workers' compensation, which helps people injured on the job. You are able-bodied and maybe sit at a desk all day. You have bills. Why should you pay for some schlub who fell off a ladder? Well, because next week you or your brother could trip on the stairs and need help.

Let's say you live in Southwest Washington and rarely travel north to the Puget Sound region and you don't want to pay for ferries. Fine, until you tell me how much state money, including Puget Sound-generated gas tax, will go to the new Interstate 5 crossing between Vancouver and Portland. Is this really the kind of state we want to be?

For many years, Puget Sound counties exported state gas-tax dollars for transportation to rural areas of the state. Formulas were tweaked in recent years to make things more equitable. Today, some counties such as Skagit, Adams, Wahkiakum, Lincoln, Jefferson, Garfield and others still get a lot of tax dollars from other counties.

I understand fully the idea that with so much population growth in the Puget Sound area, and much less in other areas of the state, there's a reasonable reluctance to constantly pay for heavy infrastructure in the more populated part of the state. That's where higher ferry fares and road tolls come in; I support those.

But the road and ferry system connect to one another and move people, agricultural products, software and airplanes. All parts really do fit together.

Government will not run well on a pick-your-service basis. Gregoire needs to craft another solution, maybe a higher gas tax, that doesn't Balkanize the place so much and doesn't set a precedent that will cause havoc and regional loathing down the road.

Joni Balter's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. E-mail jbalter@seattletimes.com