Tisbury Grudge on Police Pay Will Get New Hearing at SSA

By ALEXIS TONTI

A muddled Steamship Authority policy remained in the spotlight over
the weekend, as the Vineyard boat line governor took a position in the
debate about payments by the SSA for police details in the port towns.

Responding to the news last week that the SSA pays for extra police
assistance and traffic control in Falmouth while refusing to do the same
for Vineyard Haven, SSA governor Kathryn A. Roessel immediately
supported Tisbury leaders in their call for the port towns to be treated
equally.

But Ms. Roessel did not waver from her stand that the SSA should not
pay for police details.

"It doesn't seem they have been applying the rules in an
even-handed manner. It now seems it would be helpful if we articulated a
policy, so that management would have strict guidelines, an overall
statement about not paying for police," said Ms. Roessel, who has
put the issue on the agenda for the next monthly meeting of the boat
line board.

In April the SSA reversed its longtime policy of reimbursing the
Island's port towns for police assistance and traffic control. The
move left the Tisbury police with a budget short about $50,000 for this
fiscal year. The police department in turn scaled back its detail around
the SSA terminal, resulting in lines that often spill out of the staging
area, clogging Five Corners and backing up along the roads out of town.

The Tisbury selectmen have been campaigning for the board of
governors to overturn the decision, but have had no success.

Last week Tisbury leaders renewed their protests upon learning that
the SSA pays for police to control traffic in Falmouth on weekends. The
officers are asked to work in coordination with the shuttle buses
entering and leaving the satellite parking lot on Palmer avenue. So far
this year the SSA has spent about $7,400 on the extra police details.

Now Ms. Roessel has stepped into the fray.

"If the police offers are working on a public street in
Falmouth, then of course Falmouth needs to be paying for them.
That's the kind of thing our customers are giving Falmouth over
$400,000 via the head tax to pay for," Ms. Roessel said.

The so-called head tax is at the root of the dispute between the SSA
and Vineyard Haven officials.

In January the new 50-cent fee was tacked onto the price of each
one-way passenger ticket on ferries that travel between the Cape and
Islands. The money is collected by the ferry operators, sent to the
state Department of Revenue and then paid to the port towns where the
trip originates.

The ferry fee legislation mandates that the revenue be earmarked for
public safety, harbor services and port infrastructure improvements.

The fee is expected to generate as much as $400,000 for Falmouth,
$300,000 for Tisbury and $200,000 each for Oak Bluffs and Nantucket.
Barnstable also receives revenue from the fee.

Ms. Roessel reaffirmed her position that services previously paid
for by the boat line now fall under the provisions of the legislation.

"I had no idea we were paying for police officers in Falmouth.
It doesn't make any sense. Falmouth gets more money than any other
port town in our system," said Ms. Roessel.

"The bulk of the traffic is on the Martha's Vineyard
route, not the Nantucket route. And the lion's share of the
Vineyard traffic, everything going to Vineyard Haven, everything going
to Oak Bluffs - except for the fast ferries - comes out of
Woods Hole. It's a lot of money," said Ms. Roessel.

In recognition of the traffic problems that plague the area around
the Vineyard Haven terminal, Ms. Roessel is also recommending changes to
the way passengers with vehicle reservations are checked in.

"A large part of the problem at Five Corners is caused by the
sluggish pace at the check-in shack. We need to get people off the
street and into line immediately. While they're waiting on our
property somebody can check the ticket," she said, adding:

"That's just one suggestion. If not that, then they have
to find some other way to get our customers off the street more
quickly."

Returning to the apparent discrepancy between the SSA's
treatment of Falmouth and Tisbury, the Vineyard SSA governor concluded:

"It's disappointing to get these reminders occasionally
that the culture of the Steamship Authority management is so often so
prejudiced against Island interests. That needs to be changed."