Langley’s $5.5 million budget for 2015 received the final approval from the city council Monday night.

It was not without a few minor changes and one major one. The city council, at the request of Councilman Thomas Gill and resident Brian Woloshin, voted to change Mayor Fred McCarthy’s wording in the budget that originally stated construction of a conveyance linking the marina to Cascade Avenue would begin in spring of 2015. It now reads that the study of a conveyance will begin in 2015.

Proposed for several years, Langley city leaders have sought a way to circumvent the Wharf Street hill for boaters visiting South Whidbey Harbor.

Commonly known as Langley Marina, the dock is owned and operated by the Port of South Whidbey which recently finished one phase of expansion and has plans for additional future growth. Any further expansion will require more parking and, port and city leaders say, a reliable way to move people and their possessions up and down the bluff.

Almost 10 years ago, the idea of a funicular was proposed. The cart would be on a tram along the bluff, landing somewhere near the base across Wharf Street from the marina and on top of Cascade Avenue near Fourth Street.

Langley procured $500,000 in Island County grant funding to pay for the project. The funicular was scuttled last year in favor of pursuing a bridge and elevator in partnership with Paul and Pam Schell; the former died in July only a couple of months after formally proposing it to the city.

Needing somewhere to land either device, Langley needs a property owner to allow for a landing spot and an easement for people to walk from the bluff to the street. The Schells were willing, and Pam Schell has continued to see it through and is, according to McCarthy, willing to change the project to the funicular.

Funding for the project remained in the 2015 budget. That allows the city, if it desires, to move forward with construction without a budget amendment.

At the city’s final regular meeting of the year on Monday, the project received one resident’s rejection and one resident’s approval. Woloshin, who has criticized the project at meetings earlier this year, questioned the need and efficacy of a cart to move dozens of people from tourist boats such as the Victoria Clipper. He also said the walk would be longer from the proposed bluff-top landing spot into the business area than if people just walked from the marina up the Wharf Street hill.

Fred Lundahl, a business owner and a member of the Langley Main Street Association, spoke in favor of the project. He said he talked with someone representing the Clipper who told him it would not stop in Langley unless there was a reliable transport for people to get up the hill.

“I believe it’s an infrastructure project, much like Second Street,” Lundahl said.

Questions and planning remain for the conveyance, in any form it takes. The carrying capacity of a funicular would have to be large enough to quickly move several people up the bluff to make it worthwhile for the Clipper or other tourist groups. Langley will need to provide maintenance and service estimates for the device as well.

The city, according to council members, is waiting to move forward on the project until the Port of South Whidbey updates its master plan, now a decade old.

Another pending change to the budget, likely requiring an amendment in January 2016, is the city’s tentative agreement to a three-year contract with the Langley Police Guild. One of the resolved issues was the removal of a pay schedule in favor of receiving raises similar to other city staff. McCarthy said the change saved the city about $8,000 and remained within the proposed budget.

“I think it’s a good agreement,” McCarthy said.