Cape councilors consider bus fees for Fort Williams

Although voters have twice rejected entrance fees for individual cars at Fort Williams Park, local officials are set to give the idea another go, this time focusing on people who enter the historic site en masse.

At its May 19 meeting, the Fort Williams Advisory Commission voted to push forth a plan to charge admission to all bus tours and trolleys that enter the park, beginning with the 2012 season. The proposal will go before town councilors at their June 13 meeting.

If enacted as currently drafted, the result will be a $40 gate fee charged to all tour buses, whether sent from a cruise ship or “arriving randomly.” Trolleys that frequent the park will be assessed a $1,500 annual entrance fee.

According to Bill Nickerson, chairman of the advisory group, had the plan been in place in 2010, it would have generated $35,860 for the park. That’s based on tracking done by employees of the Portland Head Light gift store, who counted 784 bus tours that year. Three trolleys also made regular runs from Commercial Street in Portland.

As currently envisioned, camp and recreation program buses will be exempt from the fees.

“Since municipal rec programs are not-for-profit operations, commission members felt we should not institute a fee for such visits,” wrote Nickerson, in a May 23 email to Town Manager Michael McGovern.

Also enjoying fee waivers will be small buses and vans operated by elder-care facilities, such as Village Crossings, Piper Shores and the South Portland Housing Authority.

McGovern said Monday that councilors will likely hold a public hearing prior to making a final decision. However, he cautioned residents not to expect a public vote, as was conducted in 2006 and 2010, when entrance fees were proposed for personal vehicles.

“Those were advisory votes,” he said, noting that, this time around, councilors will likely want to hear from bus and trolley owners as much as from the general public. McGovern said businesses owners with a likely interest in addressing the council will be invited to the June 13 meeting.

Like the food vendor program launched this year, any money made off bus tours would go toward capital improvements at Fort Williams Park, said McGovern.

“All of the revenue generated in the park goes to bigger items,” McGovern said earlier this year, “such as, right now, we’re fixing one of the old military batteries, where the concrete had fallen off. The revenue goes to big projects like that.”

Taxpayers will remain on the hook for routine maintenance costs, which this year spiked $80,000 – to $244,015 – when town officials decided they had fallen behind in recent years on work to stone walls, tennis courts, and other grounds.

Although town officials have been hot to generate additional revenue from the historic park in recent years, McGovern warns there is no guarantee the bus fee plan will pass muster with the council.

How “random” buses will be approached remains an open question, he said, while staff will be required to collect fees on the regular buses. That, he said, will eat into revenue.

“It costs money to collect money,” said McGovern.