Outside the Lines: Ferry Tales XXVIII

Darts to the Hearts

Visualize a dartboard with the 2006 calendar.

See our Skagit County Board of Commissioners, each with one hand full of darts, and the other fist full of Skagit County tax money. They take aim. The first dart thrown hits January 1. Another dart finds June 1. Yet another dart nails June 15. The last dart hurled hits July 1. Perhaps we'll know after Tuesday.

All these dates have one thing in common. These were/are dates for implementation of the extended weekday hours of the Guemes Island Ferry. We’ve become numb to these dates and deadlines and callous to the threat of implementing extended hours. That may to our detriment. The recent frequent user fare increase, combined with eliminating the summer surcharge should warn us that the BOCC fights dirty and has no regard for their constituents. (Why should Aunt Beth from Chicago pay an extra 50¢ surcharge to visit Guemes once or twice a year?)

The money is running through the BOCC’s fingers like the water in the Guemes Channel on an ebb tide. Sinking to the bottom without thought.

The BOCC is playing a game at the expense of all Skagit County property taxpayers.
The BOCC doesn’t play fair. They don’t follow the rules, they make up their own. They don’t heed the advice from consultants, they themselves hired, {Berk and Associates}, at still more Skagit County taxpayers' expense. They ignore the GIFC that they endorsed. They disregard polls, letters, public comments at hearings, and worst of all they do not take into account a ferry budget that is already losing money. So, who is this for?

There are a few Skagitonians that might use the extended hours to their advantage. That minority have the ear of the BOCC. Why don’t they hear the voices of the majority? Perhaps our voices are not loud enough to get their attention. Maybe we should play a different game.

The BOCC is placing an unnecessary monetary burden on Skagit County citizens simply because they can.

- MJ Andrak

[5.18.6]

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