But he wants rates back at 2009 level
Ferry’s owner: I can wait to retire
By Christina Hall Free Press Staff Writer
The president of a ferry service between Harsens Island and Algonac said he is willing to delay retirement for one or two years if the company is allowed to increase revenue to previously approved 2009 levels, giving it the finances to hire and train an operations manager to take over for him.
“Please understand that it is my sincere desire to avert any suspension of service,” David Bryson wrote in a hand-delivered letter Friday from Champion’s Auto Ferry to the Michigan Public Service Commission. “I would love to establish a contractual relationship with the State where I agree not to abandon the service and you agree to allow me to charge a reasonable price to my customers for my efforts.”
“If not, there is no point in my remaining active in the company,” Bryson said.
Friday was the deadline for the company to submit a proposal on how to continue transportation service to the island at the mouth of the St. Clair River after Bryson retires. The 24-7, year-round ferry is the only way visitors and about 1,200 island residents can get to and from the mainland, other than by plane or private boat.
Bryson submitted a letter to the PSC on July 27 indicating his intent to retire and giving official notice that the company intends to discontinue ferry service at some point. The letter stated that the company was being “regulated out of business.”
The PSC has denied requests to raise rates, including a $1 rate hike in April. A round-trip ticket for a vehicle is $7.
A PSC order Aug. 14 directed the company to file an initial proposal for how a transition might be accomplished. It was to include consolidated financial statements; a timeline and description of the proposed transition and other information.
PSC spokeswoman Judy Palnau said Monday that public comments can be filed until Jan. 30. The commission will file a report with recommendations by March1. She said the PSC had no immediate response to Bryson’s proposal, saying it “speaks through its orders.”
Nan Elizabeth Casey, an attorney for the company, said the issue comes down to money.
“There’s a lot of ways to get money, a rate increase, appropriations from government agencies, private money,” she said. “It has to come from somewhere.”
Bryson wrote that he reinvested $50,000 back into the company to buy fuel in January to continue the operation for another two months.
“Whether any additional money is reinvested back into the company to continue operations past that point or is invested elsewhere depends on what; if any, ‘Return on Investment’ you might now be willing to allow,” he wrote.
Financial documents submitted by Bryson showed revenue declined from a high of more than $1.8 million in 2009 to about $1.6 million in 2011.
The commission has received a half-dozen letters — including some supporting a rate hike. A letter from the Harsens Island St. Clair Flats Association cited everything from the ferry service needing a new boat, to fewer island visitors because of the economy and island residents leaving to find jobs.
“While no one wants a rate increase and there is a valid concern that any rate increase will exacerbate an already bad situation , there is an equal and perhaps greater concern; that the ferry will be forced out of business. Should that happen, everyone would be left without a means to get on and off the island. This cannot be allowed to happen. There can be no interruption of service,” association president Patrick Feighan wrote.
The letter said elderly and sick residents would be put at great peril; children could not get to school and people could not get to and from work.
