Lummi Island ferry tickets are going to cost more than previously proposed after updated operating costs were provided to Whatcom County Council members.
Even a less aggressive, across-the-board fare increase proposed by County Councilman Carl Weimer is being steeply increased to make up a deficit in the ferry’s operation budget over the next five years.
Council members decided Tuesday to consider both Weimer’s proposal and a newly revised proposal by Public Works that is sponsored by Councilman Sam Crawford. Crawford’s proposal is even more aggressive than Weimer’s increases.
Officials have been grappling with ferry increases since late last year, when Public Works Director Frank Abart told the council that ferry tickets were not paying their share of the system’s operating costs.
County code requires that 55 percent of the ferry’s operating costs be paid for by passengers, which hasn’t been the case. The deficit was previously $653,000, but new Public Works information adds approximately $750,000 more in operating costs for employee wages and benefits, fuel, maintenance and repairs.
Under Weimer’s proposal the county would make up the deficit and have a fund balance of about $2,400 within five years. Crawford’s proposal would make up the deficit in five years and leave a $213,000 surplus.
Both proposals are fairly similar, though Weimer’s takes into account a state fuel-tax subsidy when calculating operating costs. Doing that reduces the rate increase needed.