The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Wahkiakum County Commissioners George Trott, Dan Cothren and Blair Brady on Tuesday agreed to pay a $750 tideland rental to the State of Oregon, but they added a strong letter of protest.

Last fall, Oregon informed the county that it needed to fill out an application, pay the lease fee and provided detailed maps of the tidelands used in the ferry operation.

The commissioners and Public Works Director Pete Ringen reacted negatively to the request, noting that Wahkiakum County and the State of Washington are providing ferry service that links two state highways. Clatsop County maintains the landing at Westport, Ore., and the State of Oregon has traditionally paid nothing, local officials said.

The local officials noted that Oregon receives much benefit from the ferry. When US 30 was cut last December near Clatskanie, the ferry ran free of charge as a detour.

“It’s not the amount; it’s the principle of the thing,” Ringen said.

The local officials sought help from the district office of the Washington Department of Transportation. District Administrator Leon Winger reported that Oregon officials agreed to ease the paperwork requirements, but the fee is required by statute to finance schools and couldn’t be waived. Oregon officials have agreed to hold further talks on sharing costs.

Ringen presented a draft letter which, after discussion, the commissioners agreed to send the letter, under the signature of Trott, the board chair, to the Oregon Department of Lands expressing dissatisfaction with the situation. Points included:

—"Of course the $750 in fees is not a huge sum, but it is hard to explain the necessity of this fee to those county employees the Wahkiakum County Commissioners have laid off since the first of the year due to our failing county revenues and increasing costs of government. Are you for us or against us?”

—Following the Clatskanie slide, Oregon Department of Transportation asked Wahkiakum County to run the ferry as a detour. “ODOT has reimbursed us for our extraordinary costs associated with that effort,” the letter said, “however, I bring this up to point out the importance of this interstate link to the lower Columbia River communities. Why doesn’t the State of Oregon contribute to the regular cost of operation of the interstate ferry instead of charging us a fee for providing a needed transportation service?”

—"If the State of Oregon continues to insist passing their cost of government on to this small struggling county, I see little choice except to recommend to the county commissioners that a surcharge be placed on all vehicles with Oregon license plates which wish to use the ferry Wahkiakum. In my opinion, it is a sad state of affairs when one of the states in the United States preys upon a small local government agency in a bordering state to line its coffers.”