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City needs to follow cruise ship guidelines for worthy payoff
The discovery last
week that the city was on the verge of busting limits set for the number
of cruise ships using a privately owned pier to offload passengers has
brought two issues to the forefront: Why would the city bend rules set
10 years ago; and why is so much business going to Pier B, which
contributes only 25 percent of collected cruise ship fees to the city?
Fees paid by cruise
ships for docking at three piers in Key West, including Pier B, total
about 9 percent of the city's general fund. City officials say they rely
on those fees to keep taxes down.
Back in 1993, at the
urging of residents concerned about cruise ships fouling the environment
and masses of their passengers pouring into city streets seeking cheap
trinkets and T-shirts, the city commission passed a resolution limiting
the number of ships using Pier B to seven per week.
While Pier B pays the
city 25 percent of fees it collects, all of the money paid by cruise
ships docked at two other piers run by the city, at Mallory Square and
the Outer Mole, goes back to city coffers. The city has to pay the Navy
a fee to use the Outer Mole.
So it makes sense that
the city would go along with demands from residents to limit the number
of ships docking at Pier B.
Like so many other
resolutions passed by the city commission, however, follow through is
lacking.
Last week, it was
discovered that the city had scheduled more than seven cruise ships to
use Pier B during at least three different weeks before the end of this
year.
Port Director Raymond
Archer said he would shuffle the schedule to make sure the resolution is
followed.
We hope he does. And
we hope he pays closer attention in the future to scheduling, as cruise
ship opponents surely will seize on this as another reason to distrust
the city when it comes to matters related to the industry.
Meanwhile, the
question of why the cruise industry has chosen Pier B over city-run
piers remains.
During the past three
years, Pier B has been the pier of choice in Key West for far more
cruise ships than city piers. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30,
Pier B saw twice as many cruise ships as the two city-run piers
combined, meaning a private owner received 75 percent of the fees for
329 ships that stopped in Key West.
The city collected the
full fees from the other 196 cruise ships that used the Mallory Square
and Outer Mole piers.
The debate about the
benefits of allowing an ever-increasing number of cruise ships into our
port will rage on well past this scheduling snafu.
The city staff must,
at minimum, follow the guidelines passed by commissioners elected to
represent the wishes of their constituents. They also must make sure the
city is getting the best financial benefit from allowing the massive
vessels to stop here. |
