Ferry fuel costs were greatly underestimated in the state budget. Instead of asking riders to pay for the $30 million shortfall the Gov. Christine Gregoire is moving money around to cover it.

To prevent such a situation in the future the Legislature wants to hedge fuel prices or enact a fuel surcharge. Hedging, commonly used in transit agencies, is buying fuel at a guaranteed price, while a surcharge has riders picking up extra costs.

Ferries and the Transportation Commission are working on the rules for a surcharge. It would be calculated monthly and automatically added to our fares to cover the extra cost when diesel prices exceed the fuel price used in the ferry budget.

Although fuel surcharges are used elsewhere, it seems unwise to add more complexity to our already complex fares. Just imagine the complications of a monthly fare change on our 90-day, multi-ride tickets. Clearly hedging is the way to go.

If there must be a surcharge then we, the Kingston Ferry Advisory Committee, think that:

•Riders must be protected from a low-ball fuel price in the budget. The base price used to calculate the surcharge should be no lower than that predicted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The administration predicted 2010 diesel at $2.93/gal when the ferry budget inexplicably used $1.30/gal. This scenario could happen again.

•There must be an upper limit and fair calculations for the surcharge. If there were a surcharge today, by the WSF/Commission’s proposed method (apparently concocted in Mordor) our car fares would be hiked by $7.50 and our passenger fares by $4.50… egad, we could buy several community centers for that.

•When fuel costs fall below the “base price” the savings should be banked to reduce the surcharge when prices rise above the base.

• There must be transparency and citizen oversight over any automatic fare hikes.

•The surcharge should have a sunset clause and not last indefinitely.

Before going any further the surcharge rules must be vetted on all ferry routes and with all Ferry Advisory Committees (see A guide to ferry-making fun on this page). Lobby your legislators.

There should be a fair surcharge or no surcharge.