Some of you may know me as an artist on Orcas Island, but formerly, I was a consulting transportation engineer. My work included planning transportation systems for cities including TRI MET in Portland, Ore.

The Washington State Ferry System is Washington’s marine highway and part of the Department of Transportation. In 2009 it carried nearly 23 million passengers. It is the only means of transportation with a vehicle between home and the rest of the state for those living in the San Juan Islands. Some may view the ferry system as a luxury that is a drain on badly needed financial resources. But, our islands are a unique resource being the second highest tourist attraction in the state. The San Juan Islands were recently listed in the New York Times as number two of 41 places to go in 2011. The ferry system provides a major transportation service as does the State Highway system and should be permanently funded accordingly by the state of Washington.

The Governor’s proposed Regional Ferry Authority would allow the state to avoid its responsibility to provide ferry service to its island taxpayers, business people and tourists. This would be similar to proposing County Highway Authorities and doing away with State Highways and leaving local communities to come up with the funding for road transportation.

The ferry system is the State Highway for those of us living in the San Juan Islands. Islanders pay state gas taxes but only have county roads that receive less from the gas tax than state highways.

A three-cent gasoline tax is an easy and responsible way to do this. I have observed that gasoline prices can vary by 20 cents or more per gallon among competing service stations. And each of these stations is patronized. A three-cent tax increase would be barely noticeable as evidenced by the patronage among competing service stations with varying cost of gasoline.

Now is the time for our elected leaders to do the difficult job developing permanent funding for our marine highway system and not pass it on to others to solve.

Carl Buttke

Orcas Island