| The Skagit County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, September 19, 2005, with Commissioners Don Munks and Kenneth A. Dahlstedt present. Commissioner Ted W. Anderson’s absence was excused. RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2005 PAGE NO. 2 2. Discussion – Fare Rate Phasing for Guemes Island Ferry. Steve Flude, Assistant Engineer, discussed the fare rate phasing for the Guemes Island Ferry. Mr. Flude explained that the last ferry rate increase occurred on June 1, 2004. He then stated that in May 2004, ticket sales increased from 19,584 to 30,765. Mr. Flude said the increase was due to many tickets being purchased at the old price that could still be used during the new rate period. Mr. Flude stated that besides lost revenue, staff recommends full implementation at some point in time for the following reasons: 1. Sufficient quantities of ticket books to meet demand would need to be ordered as stock on hand is becoming limited. The Board chose to limit the quantities or refuse sales when out of books. a. Assuming same level of sales as the 4th quarter of 2004, we would need to have 1500-2000 additional ticket books available to meet demand, at an approximate cost of $2,000.00. (Each ticket print run costs approximately $2,000) b. The stock on hand would not handle the expected requests. This would strain relations with the islanders as we would be in a position of having to limit the number of books each person could buy, or simply stopping sales when we run out of existing books, which would anger those who are unable to buy. 2. Allowing the continued use of old ticket media will place a significant burden on the ferry crew. a. Without a refund option, there is anticipated a significant increase in the sales of both the car & driver books and the commuter books. People will want to buy additional books to lock in the old price, and we will be bound to accept them for the valid period for each ticket (90 days for car & driver, 1 year for commuters). This would create pandemonium at the dock, as people are trying to buy the books prior to sailing and overwhelming the purser while they are trying to proceed with regular ticket sales to those in line, most likely disrupting the sailing schedule. b. There is also the possibility of people buying large quantities of the books and selling them to friends and family to assist them in circumventing the price increase. Theoretically, it would be possible for someone to purchase 100 or more commuter books and then sell them throughout the year to people who need them. 3. If the rates were phased in, there would be significant training issues with the ferry crew. The crews do not have the advantage of a computerized cashiering system. Much of the cashiering is done by mental math. Frequent changes, therefore, not only confuse this process, but slows down the cashiering. 4. If the rates were phased in, there would be several periods of time that the passengers would need to relearn the rates. This could cause confusion amongst the passengers and crew members. It is believed that a one time change is preferred to several changes requiring additional effort. 5. The final concerns are regarding the formation of a “black market” for older cheaper tickets within the community. It would be ill advised for the County to put the passengers in this type of an environment. Mr. Flude then stated that for the above reasons, staff recommended that the Board approve a method of refunding old tickets at the point of implementation of the new rates. He also recommended that this be done all at once and not in stages. Chairman Munks believed that it is important to establish a date for when the old tickets become invalid. He also spoke about phasing in the increase and said that he felt the fairest way to do this would be to set up an account to accommodate phasing in the fare increase to the disabled, low- income and elderly passengers. Chairman Munks suggested that discussions should continue. A date and time will be established in the near future. Commissioners Order Refunds for Unused Tickets
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