Islanders and day trippers alike will spend a little more to travel on the Steamship Authority beginning early next year. Parking fees in the off-site ferry lots in Falmouth are also slated to go up in January.
The Steamship Authority will increase rates for parking and some freight trucks on the Martha’s Vineyard route next year. Meeting Tuesday morning at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven, the boat line board of governors unanimously approved an $85.3 million 2014 operating budget.
Steamship Authority governors this week approved an operating budget for the coming year that includes slight fare increases for automobiles to and from the Vineyard.
Meeting Tuesday in Woods Hole, the board approved a budget with operating expenses of more than $83 million, a 4.1 per cent increase over estimated total operating costs for 2012.
The Steamship Authority is on track to finish a difficult year in reasonably good financial shape, the last board meeting of 2009 was told last week.
As of the end of October, the boat line’s net operating income was almost $12 million, some $2.8 million better than forecast.
The monthly business summary continued the good-in-parts trend of recent months: revenues were sharply down, but so were costs.
Rising world oil prices have blown a million dollar hole in the budget of the Steamship Authority and forced the boat line to refigure its budget for a second time.
However, governors balked at management’s advice that they should immediately consider fare increases to cover the extra projected cost, opting instead to put off any revenue decisions until January.
If the price of oil remains high, governors will consider measures that include a fuel surcharge.
The Steamship Authority continued to make money last year, though not as much as boat line managers anticipated.