Weekly comments from Dale Martin

By Dale Martin

City Manager

Fernandina Beach

March 23, 2018

City Manager Dale Martin

An editorial in Wednesday’s edition of the News Leader raised several issues related to the lack of progress in repairing the City’s Marina, which was significantly damaged by Hurricane Matthew nearly eighteen months ago. Several of the issues require clarification.

The headline of the editorial is “The Money Pit Marina Business,” and further states, “The city runs a money pit called the Fernandina Harbor Marina. Though it is supposed to be a self-sufficient enterprise fund where ‘revenues are intended to fund department operations,’ the general fund of the city has regularly injected hundreds of thousands into the marina’s budget.” This is true: over the last five years, the City’s General Fund (which is primarily funded through property tax revenues) has contributed approximately $300,000 annually to support the Marina. For the past twelve years, the Marina’s expenses have exceeded revenues in every single year: ten of those years by more than $200,000. Based upon those figures, it’s not a money pit, but a money abyss!

Despite that bleak fiscal history, the editorial questions the City Commission’s and my reluctance to spend emergency funds or take out loans to do expensive restoration of the current facility. The estimated cost of repairs to the Marina (prepared separately by both the City’s maritime consultant and a FEMA Coastal Specialist) surpassed $6 million: the ENTIRE General Fund reserve is slightly over $5 million. That is exactly why I advised the City Commission to not spend the money until FEMA guaranteed reimbursement. It didn’t matter that admonishing the bureaucrats had no effect- we’re doing our jobs as professional administrators, not social media watchers: it was simply sound financial management of City resources rather than sacrificing those resources to the “Money Pit Marina Business.”

And other marinas, specifically the facilities at St. Mary’s, Georgia, and St. Augustine, Florida mentioned in the article, are not much better despite the claim of the editorial. A call to the St. Mary’s marina indicated that St. Mary’s has no fueling capability, no transient docks, and its repair plan is still in development. A December report from First Coast News revealed similar conditions in St. Augustine: sixty percent of the slips are inoperable and the lingering damage has reduced revenues by half. The St. Augustine Harbormaster stated, “There are marinas destroyed up and down the east coast of Florida right now.” The Harbormaster’s estimate of repair costs to his marina is only $2 million, less than a third of Fernandina’s.

The expected reimbursement of the Marina repairs for which the City patiently secured will be approximately 90%: 75% funded through FEMA and another 12.5% funded through the State of Florida. From the perspective of the City’s maritime consultant, the Marina was an aging facility that was likely in need of replacement within the next few years anyway. As a result of Hurricane Matthew, the City will expend approximately $800,000 for new pilings and the attenuator, including new and upgraded utility services to support Marina and waterfront operations, instead of $6.5 million for the same replacement.

The southern repairs and the northern expansion are two separate issues. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reluctant to issue the permit for the southern repairs because the attenuator (dock) is only 70 feet from the navigational channel, which is in conflict with Corps “guidance” requiring 100-foot separation. The Corps had previously permitted the dock in its current location and readily admits that the channel has been inactive for deep-draft shipping for nearly thirty years. This lack of this permit is what is preventing the City from commencing the southern repairs.

The federal funding awarded for the northern expansion requires a matching $1.6 million contribution from the “money pit.” If the City is willing to provide those matching funds, the channel must be shifted west to again achieve the necessary 100-foot separation. The Corps was authorized to implement the shift in 2000, but contends that no funds were allocated for the shift. The Congressional legislation, however, indicated the costs were not to be funded by the Corps anyway, so the lack of funding should be immaterial.

The request for public support shared with others as part of the Corps Public Notice process to issue the permit for the southern repairs. It is a small but important opportunity for those who want to help get the marina restored. Once restored, the decision of further investment, construction, and expansion can be appropriately considered.

That consideration must include the willingness of the community to continue the deep financial commitment of General Fund tax dollars to support the “money pit” Marina operations.