WAILUKU — Seafaring commuters from Molokai and Lanai could soon be getting financial support from the county to pay for transportation to Maui, The Maui News reported today.

The County Council Budget and Finance Committee recommended approval Monday of a request to modify the terms of a $182,000 grant to Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. to subsidize commuters from Molokai and Lanai with jobs on Maui.

There are about 25 Molokai workers who ride the Molokai Princess operated by Sea Link of Hawaii to get to jobs on Maui. The number of commuters riding the Lanai ferry had not been confirmed Wednesday, but estimates are as many as 40 people travel on the Expeditions Maui-Lanai ferry on a regular basis for work.

"I am just ecstatic that the county has jumped in," said David Jung, president of Sea Link of Hawaii. The Molokai ferry has been providing rides for Molokai residents since 1986 when the state initially funded the commuter program.

The state paid as much as $30,000 a month to subsidize as many as 40 Molokai commuters, but in 1996, the state pulled out its financial support. The program was able to continue with employers subsidizing the ferry fares for workers. The cost to commute to and from Molokai by ferry had been $15 a day.

But on June 1, Sea Link increase the fee to $25 per round trip as part of an overall rate increase that includes a fuel surcharge approved by the Public Utilities Commission. Commuters don't pay the fuel surcharge, which now adds $26 each way. But a general rate increase was part of the request filed by Sea Link.

For a regular rider, a round-trip ferry ride between Maui and Molokai is $132.

For commuters, the county grant would cover $10 of each $25 round-trip fare.

County Transportation Director Don Medeiros said the move to help Molokai commuters with ferry costs is Mayor Charmaine Tavares' response to residents on the Friendly Isle who signed a petition asking for financial help.

Tavares' staff has been working to assist Molokai residents who were devastated by massive layoffs with the Molokai Ranch shutdown.

Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. advised the county it did not need $182,000 initially earmarked for transportation costs for dialysis patients on Maui. MEO had won a state grant to cover those expenses and agreed to use the county grant to assist in another venture to help needy citizens.

County officials and MEO representatives worked out a deal that made it cheaper for MEO to administer the commuter program than for the county to operate it.

"If we can help, we should help," Medeiros said.

He said the county assisting Molokai commuters with transportation costs isn't any different from the money it pours into bus transportation for commuters on Maui. Last August, there were as many as 270 people using the bus to get to work. That figure has more than doubled with rider records showing approximately 560 commuters a day riding the Maui Bus, a service subsidized by the county.

Employers such as the Westin Maui Resort & Spa initially covered both bus and ferry fees for its workers. But when hotel occupancy rates started plummeting this year, employers had to back out.

Westin Maui Resort & Spa General Manager Craig Anderson testified Monday in support of the county subsidy for commuters. Anderson said his hotel has four employees who have been riding the Molokai Princess for 20 years to get to work.

"They're not just any four. We believe the four are very valuable employees of our hotel," Anderson said.

He credited the county administration as well as Council Member Danny Mateo of Molokai and Joe Pontanilla, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, for supporting the initiative.

"I'm thrilled that the county took initiative to look for solutions," Anderson said.

The budget committee acted on a bill to allow a revision in use of the grant to MEO. It is expected to be placed on the County Council's meeting agenda for first reading on Oct. 3. A second reading and final approval is expected to follow at a council meeting on Oct. 17.

Following an approval, MEO Executive Director Sandy Baz said, his office would be prepared to work with Sea Link of Hawaii and Expeditions in processing subsidized payments for the commuters.

More Maui News at www.mauinews.com.