Mississippi River ferry faces high water, costs

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- The Mississippi River is finally going down, but the costs of running the Dorena-Hickman Ferry will probably never drop.

Early this week, Mississippi County Port Authority Board members hope to announce a funding solution as well as when -- or if -- the ferry will be back in operation.

"It's still an 'if,'" said Kenny George, the Port Authority's board chairman. As of Monday, the ferry has been out of service for six weeks because of the Mississippi River's high water level, George said.

The river has now dropped low enough to resume operations, "but we need to have enough money to operate till the end of this fiscal year," board member Liz Anderson said. "It wouldn't make sense to open now and have to close down next month."

The ferry's fiscal year ends June 30. During the board's regular meeting Monday, board members determined the amount needed to stay operating until that date is $38,000.

Without some sort of long-term solution, the outlook for the next fiscal year is just as bleak, George said. He estimated that based on the current revenue and expenses, the ferry would only be able to stay in operation until January.

"We're going for a long-term fix," he said. "We don't want to put a Band-Aid on something that needs stitches."

The current financial shortfall is primarily because of high fuel costs.

George said the ferry uses, on average, about 100 gallons of diesel fuel per day. As of the last fill-up six weeks ago, the cost was $3.70 per gallon, he said.

Lost revenue from being out of operation was also a factor. "We lost a lot of the spring traffic of people going fishing at Reelfoot [Lake in Tennessee]," George said. On March 20, ferry officials asked Mississippi County commissioners to approve a $1 fuel surcharge to make ends meet.

"But we have never got to use it because of high water," George said.

While commissioners approved the fuel surcharge, Presiding Commissioner Jim Blumenberg suggested at that time the fare schedule should be adjusted. "I still think the fees need to go up," Blumenberg said at Thursday's commission meeting. "I think the rates need to be adjusted."

George said ferry officials want to keep rates affordable for users.

Blumenberg, however, estimated the fuel cost for motorists to reach Reelfoot Lake without taking the ferry, for example, would be about $35 for a round trip. He said even with higher fares, motorists would be saving money by taking the ferry instead of alternate routes.

Also, state and federal officials need to increase the ferry's subsidies to keep it viable, commissioners agreed. During their Thursday meeting, commissioners resolved to send a letter to state representatives Ellen Brandom, 160th District; Steve Hodges, 161st District; U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, asking for additional funding.

"We're still running on the same amount of funding we were issued in 1994," George said. "We've only had one increase, and that was $5,000 last year."

County Commissioner Homer Oliver recalled the subsidy funding was made available for ferry services in part to provide an alternate method of crossing the river in the event an earthquake closed bridges.

"If we had a major earthquake, that's the only way to get across the river between St. Louis and Memphis," George said.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials "have been kind of slack on support," Oliver said.

"They ought to realize what cost it is to operate a ferry," Blumenberg agreed.

Blumenberg said Tennessee benefits from the ferry as much as Missouri and Kentucky but has never contributed any funding. "I think Tennessee needs to chunk in some money," he said.

While the ferry's budget has hit a critical point this year, it is not really a new problem, George said.

"This has been going on every year," he said. "It's been a constant struggle since day one with the budget."

And unlike the river's high waters, increased operation costs are not a temporary problem.

"Fuel is not coming back down," George said. "This is going to be long term."

Even before the higher fuel costs, the ferry's entire revenue stream, both subsidies and fares, had been used just to cover operation costs leaving no room for other expenses.

"We're going to have to put new engines in this boat before too long," George said. "That's going to be a $70,000 project."

George said he and the other board members are working on a solution and are hopeful there will be good news early this week as they have decided against opening the ferry for short periods only to close back down when funding runs out.

"That's not going to work. We need to come open and stay open or we're just going to have to call it quits," he said. "People have to have something they can depend on being there."