Ferry issue comes into focus

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly isn’t being specific about what the options are for the embattled M/V Susitna ferry and what those will mean for the borough’s bottom line.

There were three options discussed at a Tuesday assembly meeting.

• Move the ferry someplace other than Ketchikan to save money on storage fees.

• Sell the ferry.

• List it as government surplus for any government agency to take for free.

For the first option, the borough sought out proposals for moving the ferry and storing it. The proposal that came to the table Tuesday would have put the vessel in storage in Washington state. Storage there, said borough manager John Moosey, would cost $10,000, per month, as opposed to the $60,000 per month the borough is now paying. But there are significant up-front costs to transport the vessel there.

“When we’re going through the sale and putting it on the federal surplus list, it will not be as convenient for us to have it down there,” Moosey said.

There may be buyers, he said, who would want to tour the boat or take it out for a test drive.

On the other hand, “If we have the Susitna for another year this is definitely a significant cost savings,” he said.

Moosey said he personally doesn’t like the idea of moving the Susitna to Washington. He said he thinks the idea is a short-term, rather than a long-term, fix. The idea found very little purchase at the assembly table.

“This ferry story gets worse every week,” Assemblyman Ron Arvin said. “I’m not interested in taking it farther away from Port MacKenzie. That doesn’t make a bit of sense to me,” he said.

Storing it at Port MacKenzie also is a bad idea, he said.

“I’m not interested in spending whatever millions of dollars to put it on the beach,” Arvin said. “Do we know that number? Is that number public?”

“No it is not,” Moosey said.

“It’s expensive, I would imagine,” Arvin said.

“That is correct,” Moosey replied.

Every assembly member voted against moving the ship to Washington.

About the second option, Moosey said there are a lot of people interested in buying the ferry.

“The frustrating part about this is there are so many great ideas on how to use it, so many people interested in it, but when it comes to cash on the barrelhead we have not seen it yet,” Moosey said.

He said none of those who have expressed interest really have any kind of a credible offer.

Assemblyman Jim Colver said he thinks the private sector is preferable. The borough could end up getting more than the $12 million it would owe to the Federal Transit Authority. Grants received from the FTA required the borough to set up a ferry system or pay the money back.

“Let’s see if we get any interest from the private sector,” he said. “Let that run for a little while.”

But at least two assembly members — Steve Colligan and Warren Keogh — believe the ship needs to go on the federal surplus registry, which is the third option.

Moosey said he thinks there’s a very good chance that if the borough puts the Susitna on the surplus registry it will get snatched up right away. At least two government agencies have expressed interest in the vessel, but lack the budget to actually buy it. Both could grab the vessel the minute it goes on the list.

While the borough would get no money for it, Moosey said, $8 million of the $12 million federal obligation would be forgiven. The other $4 million to $4.5 million outstanding in FTA grants had to do with building the ferry terminal building at Port MacKenzie.

The borough would have two options there. It could sell that port terminal or it could pay back the $4 million.

As long as the terminal sells for fair market value, though, the FTA would take money the borough got in the sale and call the matter settled.

“I believe that would wipe out our entire obligation,” Moosey said. “The question is, do we want to have a private business down at our port or do we want to retain that.”

Colligan liked the idea of getting out from under the ferry by using that surplus option.

“I’m willing to hang on for a little bit to entertain some things that might be in the works, but otherwise I think we should move forward to stem our bleeding as quickly as possible,” Colligan said.

Keogh more or less agreed.

“I’m glad that it’s listed with four different (ship) brokers, but now is the time to put it on the federal registry,” Keogh said. “Let’s cut our losses.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.