According to the Highline Times, a tiny property tax increase is all that would be needed:
An additional penny in King County’s property tax would raise $2.5 million annually for water taxi service, said King County Councilman Dow Constantine, D-West Seattle.
I have a soft spot for ferries, as you have probably noticed if you read this blog often. New Ferries are a cool mode of service, and would work great in the interum if projects like the 520 replacement or the Alaskan Way Viaduct take years to complete.
Also in the article are this tidbit about foot ferries:
The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce is pushing for the northern half of Jack Block Park to be used for a walk-on ferry dock, replacing the current “temporary” dock at Seacrest Park near Duwamish Head.
There are about 500 parking places there that are largely unused during workdays and underused at almost all times, said Patti Mullen, executive director of the chamber.
500 parking spots? That’s insane. While the parking is nice, the park is a little farther from Alki which would be unfortunately for people like me who like to take the ferry there. Here’s Jack Block Park on a map. It looks from the map that there is also some rail going there, so it could be a problem for the port, which owns the land, if the ferry interferes with shipping there.