Residents of Swan’s Island, Vinalhaven and Islesboro are frustrated about a proposed 12.5 percent hike in all ferry fees, and feel they weren’t given a chance to voice their opinions about the increase.
The new fees will be in place June 1, unless David Cole, the state commissioner of transportation, decides the increase is unwarranted.
The hike impacts all islands served by the Maine State Ferry System: Frenchboro, Swan’s, Islesboro, North Haven, Vinalhaven and Matinicus. Passenger and vehicle tickets and the price for parking and docking are all to go up. The Maine State Advisory Board, made up of island residents, already approved the new rates on April 10.
State officials blame skyrocketing diesel costs for the increase. This year, the ferry system will have to pay an additional $650,000 for fuel, according to Capt. Jim MacLeod, manager of the Maine State Ferry Service.
While some said they understand that fuel costs are rising, there was concern that the sharp jump in ferry fees could force people to move to the mainland.
“I love my job, and I don’t want to give it up, but at some point you have to question if there are other options – telecommuting or moving off the island,” said Siobhan Ryan of Swan’s Island. With the increase, Ryan said about 14 percent of her salary, after taxes, pays for commuting to the mainland, where she works at the Conners Emerson Elementary School in Bar Harbor.
Molly Bryan, of Swan’s Island, also commutes daily to the mainland. “It is increasingly difficult for those living on a fixed income and those who need to commute or use the ferry for their businesses to meet the demands of the rising cost of living,” Bryan said.
Vinalhaven resident Bob Delsandro is so upset by the proposed hike that he began circulating a petition asking that Cole, the advisory board and MacLeod, the system’s manager, hold a hearing on Vinalhaven with documentation to justify the rate increases. “Most of my anger comes from the lack of public information,” he said. Delsandro delivered the petition, signed by 256 Vinalhaven residents, to MacLeod on May 19.
Only about eight islanders attended a May 8 hearing on the rate hikes, which was held at 11:30 a.m. on a weekday. Those who attended said this was not the way to get islanders’ input. “These meetings should be held on the islands that are being affected, instead of being held on a work day,” said Delsandro. Bill MacFee, owner of Fox Island Transport, said the advisory board should not have voted until it held hearings on each island. “Shame on you for not getting these islands together and having a meeting with more input before this happened today,” MacFee said.
Kathy Clark, Swan’s Island advisory board member, said during the May 8 hearing, “We would not like to see a rate increase because it is a hardship. But we know we have to have one just to survive.”
With other costs rising, the ferry hike will make it even harder to live on these islands. “I am beside myself about the amount” of this increase, said Michelle Stanley, of Vinalhaven, during the hearing. “If you folks knew what we are paying just to live out there,” she said. After the meeting, Stanley said it costs $5 per gallon for milk on Vinalhaven, $4.67 a gallon for gas and $4.18 a gallon for heating oil.
“Fuel oil, electric and food prices went up this winter, like skyrockets, so it makes sense for the ferry rate to increase as well,” said Gary Rainford of Swan’s Island. “However, staying afloat with all these increases is becoming a hardship for too many people.”
Phil Berry of Leach’s Express on Islesboro said that he has had to raise his rates transporting goods from the mainland and after the upcoming rate increase will raise them yet again. He has not noticed any decrease in business because of the increases, however. “The summer people want what they want when they want it,” he said.
Berry feels that commercial traffic ends up paying a lot of the overall costs of running the ferry.
“Well, I am not happy about it, but it won’t change my going to the mainland,” said Islesboro resident Janet Anderson. “It certainly is understandable.”
Another factor in the rate hike, in addition to rising fuel costs, is that state law mandates that money from the Marine Highway Account cannot exceed more than 50 percent of the revenue budgeted to pay for operating the Maine State Ferry Service, according to MacLeod. The other 50 percent must come from another source – in this case fares, he said.
MacLeod also raised concerns about the cost of running the ferries. Due to the continuing steep increase in fuel costs, “It will be very challenging to operate this ferry service in an affordable manner in the foreseeable future,” he said. “I wish we didn’t have to raise rates, I really do, but it is becoming more and more of an expensive operation.”
Delsandro and other Vinalhaven residents are particularly upset over a new $175 fee to park in the Rockland lot from Oct. 16 through May 14. The new annual fee for the Rockland lot would be $325.
All other lots do not have a fee for winter parking. MacLeod said the winter parking fees in Rockland were to help manage the lot. Right now, mainland residents and workers in downtown Rockland park in the lot. Since it is a public lot, MacLeod said, the public cannot be told they cannot park there.
“I think that $175 is an outrage,” said Delsandro. “It’s obscene that we’re trying to make this parking lot work and help Maine DOT and then have such an increase. Even with paying the fee, islanders are not guaranteed a space. “They call it a parking permit, but it is more like a lottery ticket,” he said.
Carlene Michael, owner of the Paper Store on Vinalhaven, said she was adamantly opposed to the parking fee hike, for a lot where a permit does not guarantee a space. “The thing that bothers me is that free enterprise couldn’t get away with that,” she said. “If a private company tried to do that and someone complained, the state would probably get quite involved.”
Donna Wiegle, Kris Osgood and Sandy Oliver contributed reporting for this story.