BREMERTON—Despite some opposition voiced at its April 5 meeting, the Kitsap Transit board of commissioners voted to move forward with a proposal to fund Seattle-to-Kitsap County passenger-only ferry routes.

Board members voted 7-2 in support of the proposal. Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson and Poulsbo City Councilman Ed Stern voted against it.

A big “if” in implementing the ambitious plan is getting approval from county voters Nov. 8 to raise Kitsap County’s sales tax to 9 percent. It currently is 8.7 percent.

The money gained by the sales-tax increase would help fund the plan, which features new routes from downtown Seattle’s Pier 50 to Southworth, Bremerton and Kingston. If voters agree, passenger-only service could begin on the Bremerton-Seattle route in July 2017. Kingston service would follow a year later.

Southworth is the last route to begin service in July 2020 because of a need to construct a 250-passenger vessel that could bow-load passengers on the South Kitsap end, as well add some modifications to the existing Southworth dock.

Mayor Erickson said she was “angry” about the POF plan.

She said a small group of influential citizens “might have influenced a lot of the data that we were considering,” and said polling questions on the POF were biased to ensure a desired answer from those polled.

She said the POF would cost $355 million over 20 years.

“That’s a third of a billion,” Erickson said. She said that money could be better used other ways, such as having free Sunday bus service, improving vehicle congestion problems in Gorst and Silverdale or creating a bus rapid-transit system for Highway 305.

Port Orchard Mayor Rob Putaansuu, however, was supportive of the project.

Putaansuu said, “Last week I had the privilege of riding the light rail to the University of Washington for a meeting. I see this POF service as our ‘light rail.’

“Sound Transit had much larger transit systems being developed and our proposal is very modest in comparison …  and the system is successful on the other side of the water. Growth is coming to Kitsap County and let’s plan for it without more cars.”

Kitsap Transit board member Robert Gelder said people seemed to be evenly split on the POF issue. He said a privately run fast ferry could not operate without a subsidy.

“It’s hard for transit systems to function without some level of subsidy. The hard part is without the subsidy it (isn’t) reliable.

“All transit on some level is subsidized. We do it now. We pay sales tax — each and every one of us — for the bus service that’s in our community. Yet the majority of the local citizens don’t use bus service. But again, it’s a proven tool for urbanizing centers. We all subsidize road infrastructure but we don’t all drive,” Gelder said.

Larry Croix of Port Orchard said the current POF plan was “unworkable.”

“The known factors are enough to say it won’t work and the unknowables are extensive and profound.”

According to Kitsap Transit’s proposed business plan, there are two “viable legal structures available to support Kitsap passenger-only ferry service”: the current Kitsap Transit Public Transportation Benefit Area and authority to establish a separate Ferry District.

Kitsap Transit’s plan estimates that $48 million in capital investment would be required between 2017 and 2022 to support all three routes.

Almost $13 million in sales-tax funding would be committed to capital investments required to launch the first two routes.

The transportation agency also said the ferry service will require an $8 million annual subsidy.

Broken out for each route, the subsidies will be $2.5 million for Bremerton, $3.1 million for Kingston and $2.4 million for Southworth.

— Bremerton Patriot editor Chris Tucker contributed to this article.