For some time, the city of Excelsior has been exploring the option of building a fourth dock in the Port of Excelsior.
The city council asked the Parks and Recreation Commission to explore the means and feasibility of adding the dock, which would be a half-residential, half-transient dock.
At a park and recreation meeting last month, the commission heard from residents who are opposed to the city adding a fourth dock. They argued it will bring more congestion, pollution and noise to the area.
One resident made a suggestion that the commission is now exploring, which is dismantling one of the existing commercial docks that serve charter boats, and replacing it with the proposed transient/residential dock.
Parks Commission Chairperson Pierre LaMere proposed the idea to the city council to see if it would be open to the suggestion, arguing that the cost of operating the commercial docks outweighs the revenue they bring in by about $10,000. He noted that in addition several residents feel the commercial docks are a major cause of the noise and pollution in the port.
The council's reaction was to ask the commission to continue exploring the idea, and to take another look at the numbers.
According to the city, the commercial docks generate around $60,000 annually and cost $70,000 to operate. But there seems to be differing opinions on if the commercial docks are actually in the black or red.
Mayor Nick Ruehl said he didn't feel the commission was calculating the numbers correctly in regards to the cost of operating the commercial docks.
"We think that there may not be a complete understanding of the budget that led to some information that is not correct," said Ruehl. "There may not be a full understanding by the park commission of what the numbers are."
The issue of the proposed dock has sparked much debate.
"The commercial docks are a long-time tradition at the port and provide many benefits," said Council Member Greg Miller. "There are also many direct and indirect costs associated with the commercial docks. It is my understanding that the commercial dock revenues exceed their direct costs. Depending on how service and administrative indirect costs are allocated, it may result in the commercial dock revenues not exceeding their allocated indirect costs."
If the commercial docks are in the red, the argument in support of them is that they bring many visitors to the city that spend money around town, which contributes to the local economy and boosts the city's overall tax revenues.
"Unfortunately I don't think the park board representative had complete financial information when he was discussing the commercial docks," said Council Member Wendy Berghorst. "I agree that the charters do bring many new people into Excelsior and hopefully they will want to come back to visit."
LaMere acknowledged that there is an indirect financial benefit to the city from the commercial docks, but said he is simply concluding the docks' financial costs off of the reports from the city.
"You know, there's all kinds of, 'Well, that's not the right way of allocating these costs,' or whatever," said LaMere. "But we get the summary of the reports of the way its accounted. All I have to go by is the reports that are produced."
LaMere stressed that this was just an idea the commission was exploring, and he is not actually recommending that the city dismantle one of the commercial docks.
"All that was, was an alternative for discussion," said Lamere. "All we wanted was to have the discussion with city council to say, 'Are we open to even considering that?' It's not a recommendation of that by any means."
The council asked LaMere to take another look at the numbers before offering a recommendation, but LaMere said he isn't sure where he is supposed to look.
"It was vague," said Lamere in regards to the council's request. "There aren't any changes in the numbers. The numbers are pretty basic."
As of now, the city council has not given the parks commission a deadline to issue a recommendation, and the issue has not been scheduled for discussion at a city council meeting.
The mayor and the council also appear to be waiting to hear from the commission before taking any official stance on the issue.
"To my knowledge, city staff has not yet had the opportunity to review those numbers and I would like to hear staff's opinion before I come to any conclusions regarding cost/benefits," said Council Member Jennifer Caron.
