Jason Joiner’s numbers and conclusions (News-Times, July 29) are wildly off the mark. People who study economics estimate that 68 cents of every dollar spent at locally owned businesses stays in the community, but profit margins at gas stations are about 23 cents per gallon, whatever the price per gallon. At today’s prices, less than 10 cents of every fuel dollar stays on the island. The rest goes to producers and refiners far removed from our community.

Adjacent to the nearest refinery, in Anacortes, is a tribal casino. Many casinos say, “Use our free bus and spend your money here instead of at the gas pump.” Most of the money the casino brings in from its free bus stays in the tribal community. Smart business.

We have no casinos on Whidbey Island, but the principle is the same. With the money you use to fill up your gas tank, you can eat, be entertained, and shop at locally owned businesses that will recycle every dollar over and over again before it goes off the island. Island transit gives you that choice.

Island Transit’s share of sales tax revenue last year was $5.2 million (not Joiner’s $27 million), costing the county’s 75,000 residents almost $70 each (not $360, which would be 0.6 percent of a ridiculous $60,000), less than two 15-gallon tanks of gas. Remember, some of the cost is shared by off-island visitors who also pay sales tax on what they buy here, and Island Transit’s budget is almost completely recycled into the community through employee wages and purchase of goods and services.

So, Island Transit is a winner for our business community whether you use it or not. If you ride the bus, you are a winner too. It’s a sure bet.

James Bruner

Oak Harbor