Creative budget maneuvering by legislators, including 34th district Sen. Emily Alvarado, has ensured money will be available for continued midday water taxi service — but questions still remain to be ironed out now that the Legislature has wrapped for the year.

State legislators faced the daunting task of addressing a multi-billion dollar shortfall in the state operating budget this year. Part of that gap came from the Transportation budget, through which $3.17 million was secured last year for King County’s Vashon-Seattle water taxi to add four roundtrip midday trips.

That added service was intended to provide some relief for islanders who have endured diminished Washington State Ferries (WSF) service, and islanders welcomed the midday trips: Vashon-Seattle water taxi ridership jumped 55% during the last six months of 2024, almost entirely because of the new sailings. But the appropriation ends June 30, and with cuts across the budget looming, it wasn’t clear whether that service would be renewed.

“We made some progress in a really difficult year, at least in terms of the operating budget,” Alvarado said in a phone interview this week. “We were able to protect some of the key services we all care about, and to make some significant investments in public education, specifically in special ed. We were responsive to some of the priorities that the governor put out there, and responsive to his call not to move forward with specific sources of revenue that certainly I would have preferred the Senate had included in our initial proposal. So that left us constrained, but I think we still came up with a proposal that at least reflects our values, and I think that it’ll keep us out of being called back for any special session.”

The final budget doesn’t maintain midday water taxi funding as a specific line item. Instead, it sends about $4 million to WSF, to be reallocated to Kitsap and Vashon based on need. How the money is split up isn’t defined explicitly, but Alvarado said her “best guess” is that WSF will split the money half and half — meaning possibly $2 million or so for Vashon water taxi service.

Separately, Alvarado worked with King County to include a “fund swap” in the budget. King County will trade the remainder of a federal grant that it can no longer spend to the state in exchange for a more flexible chunk of change. In the end, the swap frees up $10 million for King County, and one of the priorities for spending that money is Vashon water taxi service, Alvarado said — cautioning that again, nothing is explicitly earmarked for that purpose.

The ball now goes to WSF and King County’s court to decide how to spend that roughly $14 million combined chunk of change.

“My hope is, between the money that’s directly allocated and the King County swap, we can make sure that we, at a minimum, continue existing water taxi service that was enhanced as part of the prior budget,” Alvarado said. “It’s not the way I would have wanted it to end up, but at least we do have a pathway for more continued service.”

Islanders for Ferry Action Director Amy Drayer welcomed the news.

“The legislature did pretty well for Vashon in a really rough year,” Drayer said. “Even though there’s not money explicitly in the final version [for midday water taxi sailings], Rep. Alvarado has been an absolute champion for us in working with King County. … Between King County and Rep. Alvarado’s work, we are looking at an extension of the midday Water Taxi. … Vashon spoke and she listened, and she made it happen.”

Though their work is not done, IFA will evolve from this point, Drayer said, and continue as an all-volunteer effort with a a steering committee and no specific director.

“The regional coalition is built,” Drayer said. “Our relationships with media and legislators are built. We really took this year to build the infrastructure, and now we’re going to use that infrastructure to keep advocating. We won’t be as scaled up as we were, but we absolutely cannot rest on what we’ve built. We’re going to keep working.”

Drayer herself is staying busy — she’s taking on a new role as executive director of Vashon HouseHold, an island housing nonprofit, and plans to remain a commissioner of the Vashon Island Fire & Rescue board of directors.