March 23, 2009 — The territory will wait a little longer for the Public Services Commission to address the issue of rates and the fuel surcharge on the ferries between St. Thomas and St. John.
The commission met Monday evening, but was unable to respond to public calls for reducing the surcharge in the face of falling fuel prices.
Ferry operators defended the continued need for the surcharge, explaining that though their fuel prices have gone down, other expenses have gone up.
"It has helped us tremendously," said Delrise Varlack, speaking on behalf of Varlack Ventures, one of the ferries between St. Thomas and St. John. "… It is imperative that it is maintained."
Varlack noted that the company continues to provide the same schedule it had before ridership began to fall off.
"There is still a reduction in ridership," she said, citing the decrease in construction and lower tourism numbers as the root causes for a 15-percent decrease from last year.
While the $1.10 increase is sufficient to cover the cost of fuel, other costs such as insurance and employee expenses increased, particularly those related to Transportation Workers Identification Credentials for each employee, Varlack said.
Without the surcharge, she told the commission, her company would not be able to meet expenses.
Commissioner Donald Cole said in a previous meeting that the fuel surcharge would remain in place until the PSC received the report of the hearing examiner, Attorney Claudette Ferron reminded the commission.
"We would maintain that it should remain in effect pursuant to the decision of the hearing examiner," Ferrone said.
The commissioners did not make any determination about ferry rates and the fuel surcharge Monday because of a late report submitted from the hearing examiner. The decision from the hearing examiner was only provided to commissioners earlier in the day. The commissioners objected to the limited time they had had to review it.
Lambasting hearing examiner Natalie Nelson-Tanghow for the lateness of the report, Commissioner Verne C. David noted the critical need for a decision in light of growing public criticism of the ongoing fuel surcharge. Nelson-Tanghow explained that the amount of data was voluminous and that the schedule was "overambitious."
"The PSC is in a difficult position now," Chairman Joseph B. Boschulte told Nelson-Tanghow.
The commission proposed to meet after a period of at least 10 days, after it has adequate time to evaluate the report, and then make a determination about continuing the fuel surcharge.
In other issues, the commission did not review the status of the St. Thomas-St. Croix ferries, operated by Aquatic Management and doing business as Sea Trans. While the item was on the agenda, no one representing that ferry company attended the meeting.
The company allegedly owes the PSC more than $35,000 in assessments, with some of the assessments outstanding since December 2007.
In other business, the commission appointed attorney Rosalie Simmonds Ballentine as hearing examiner overseeing the negotiations between developers Earth, Wind and Power and the V.I. Water and Power Authority for the interconnection agreement for the windmills at the Tutu Park Mall.
The authority and the developers were negotiating the terms of the interconnection agreement when the commission decided to appoint a hearing examiner to oversee the negotiations. WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge said the two parties had no problem negotiating the remaining items.
Commissioners attending the meeting were Joseph R. Boschulte, Donald "Ducks" Cole, Verne C. David, M. Thomas Jackson, Elsie V. Thomas-Trotman and Sen. Patrick Simeon-Sprauve. Sen. Michael Thurland and Sirri Hamad were absent.
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