ANACORTES — Tourists pack Stork’s Restaurant inside San Juan Lanes on summer mornings to eat a hearty breakfast before catching the ferry to Sidney, B.C.

If the Washington State Ferry run is eliminated, as Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed to cut costs, bowling alley owner Dave Storkson said those customers will go away.

“I’ll feel it,” Storkson said. “The whole town will feel it. … There will be jobs lost.”

The impact of eliminating the run would be felt throughout the city’s economy, as well as the region, say community business and government leaders.

The international run generated $126 million in the economies of Skagit, Island, San Juan, Whatcom and Snohomish counties in 2006, according to a study commissioned by the Economic Development Association of Skagit County.

International ferry customers often spend a night or two at one of 15 hotels on Fidalgo Island before they eat an early breakfast and get on the boat.

For the Majestic Inn and Spa, eliminating the run would mean a drop of $100,000 a year in revenue, said Bob Morand, hotel owner. Cap Sante Inn owner Mark Lione said he’d lose 3,000 guests and $120,000.

The impact of the loss of the route would spread to restaurants, taverns, retailers and other businesses patronized by hotel guests, Lione said. Restaurants near Cap Sante Inn estimate that ferry customers generate a total of $120,000, he said. Jobs would be eliminated, both Lione and Morand said.

As a result of the potential losses to business, North Puget Sound Association of Realtors and Washington Realtors have offered to lobby for the run.

“A community doesn’t happen without houses and jobs,” said Candy Cooper, president of the North Puget Sound Association of Realtors. “If there is no draw for people to come to our hotels or our restaurants, that’s a hardship on our whole community. People will leave eventually if they can’t be employed in our community.”

All-in-all, the international run provided 1,470 jobs in 2006, pumping $30 million in payroll into the regional economy and $4.6 million in taxes that year, according to E.D. Hovee & Company, the economic consultant that conducted the study. The study didn’t track the economic impact of the ferry route in British Columbia, but Sidney town leaders say it is considerable.

“The effect on business people from Nanaimo south is significant,” Lione said. “It’s tourists dollars and business dollars and the impact goes across the border. It’s not just a housekeeper I have or a dishwasher Bob (Morand) has. It’s exponential.”

Gregoire’s proposed budget would scrap the run to save $9.2 million and to help balance the 2009-11 biennium budget. She and lawmakers must cut $5.7 billion in spending.

Supporters of the route say that the governor’s calculations fail to account for the $7 million in fares and the sales tax that would be collected by local and state governments during that biennium. Also, if the ferries were moved to other routes, as is proposed, the agency would still incur maintenance and labor costs.

But Gregoire and David Moseley, State Ferries chief, have to chart a course through rough financial waters. Over the next 21 years, state officials will need to purchase between five and 10 vessels, as well as continue to run the nation’s largest ferry system.

The agency is currently taking comments two proposed plans, Plan A and B, for the long run.

If they follow Plan A and continue to provide the same level of service, State Ferries will have a cumulative budget shortfall of $3.5 billion by 2030.

That’s assuming the Legislature provides no new money to State Ferries and officials increase fares and build 10 new boats, according to a draft of the agency’s long-term plan.

Under Plan B, State Ferries would scale back its service, eliminating the international run and reducing service in the San Juan Islands. The agency would build five boats but still suffer a cumulative budget loss of $1.4 billion by 2030, according to the draft plan.

Although State Ferries financial challenges come to a head at the same time the state must slash spending to balance its budget, the agency’s cash problems have been building since 1999. That year passage of Initiative 695 gutted a major source of ferry funding. Over the past eight years, the agency raised fares by up to 122 percent to cover costs.

“This ferry system, it promotes livable communities, it really does, but you are always going to have those people who don’t see it that way,” Cooper said. “It’s not just tourism that we’re talking here, it’s an international quality of life, too.”

Sidney Mayor Larry Cross said that the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and the Sidney Business Association have agreed to help with the lobbying effort.

Duane Clark, chairman of the Anacortes Ferry Advisory Committee chairman, said that he and other community leaders are approaching professional associations that represent the hospitality industries to help them out.

Community leaders also have gotten support from local lawmakers, including Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon; Kevin Ranker, D-San Juan Island; and the powerful Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island.

The governor’s budget is just the first round, said Haugen and the senator has a say on what is included in the transportation budget bill when it leaves her committee. A fare increase on routes that attract more tourists, than commuters, might be considered.

“I write the budget,” Haugen said. “We might have to make the run a little more cost-effective.”

Marta Murvosh can be reached at 360-416-2149 or .