04/18/2006: "Governor Signs Bill, SJC Set To Lose Big"

The Governor has signed bill ESSB 6839. The bill will remove what may be as much as $1,000,000 a year from future Capron funds that was earmarked for San Juan County. The amount is what was an expected percent increase in taxes the county has traditional received back from the state, because San Juan County has no state roads. Last month Public Works Director Jon Shannon and County Administrator David Goldsmith came before the County Council to ask them to send a letter to the Governor asking her to "line item veto" the section of the bill that would prevent SJC from receiving yearly percent increases; increases that have already been factored into the county budget, but now will not be received from the state.

The taxes that were expected to go to SJC, will now go to the ferry system. At the last minute the Council did send a letter to the Governor, but according to Ranker's report to the Council on Monday, she was unable to delete the line items requested, because they contained language that would influence areas beyond San Juan County's concerns. It is not clear at this point why the Council had not lobbied to retain the funds, but based on the Council dialog, the only Councilman that did not seem surprised by the testimony from Shannon and Goldsmith was Ranker.

Councilman Ranker had told the Council that he was familiar with the progress of the bill, and that it had been introduced and supported by members of the legislature who have been friends of San Juan County in the past, but were supporting this bill. Previous Story .