Court rules against Portsmouth’s request for ferry rate discount

Town had sought reduced fares for DPW, police and fire

By Jim McGaw
Posted 1/18/19

PORTSMOUTH — Employees of the Town of Portsmouth will not receive a discounted fare to ride the Prudence Island ferry, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled. 

In a decision …

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Court rules against Portsmouth’s request for ferry rate discount

Town had sought reduced fares for DPW, police and fire

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — The Town of Portsmouth has lost its appeal for a reduced municipal rate for employees to ride the Prudence Island ferry, according to a decision by the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

In a decision handed down Wednesday, Jan. 16, the court upheld a previous ruling by the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that rejected the town’s request for a reduced rate from ferry operator A&R Marine Corp., doing business Prudence & Bay Islands Transport.

The town’s request came after A&R Marine applied to the PUC for a 96.5-percent rate increase in November 2015. The town filed a motion to intervene the following month, and asked PUC for reduced rates for town employees.

“We were essentially trying to get a municipal discount, for DPW trucks and employees who go back and forth to the island,” Town Administrator Richard Rainer, Jr. said. 

After two public hearings, PUC held an evidentiary hearing in May 2016 and ruled against the town’s request the following month. The commission said it had no authority to grant the discount because such a request must come directly from the utility (A&R Marine) and not the Town of Portsmouth.

The town appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, contending “that the PUC erred in denying its request for a discounted rate for ferry service from the Town of Bristol to Prudence Island for ‘municipal vehicles and passengers performing essential government services.’”

In its ruling Wednesday, which quoted poet T.S. Eliot at one point, the state Supreme Court affirmed the PUC’s earlier decision, saying the rate reduction must come from the town.

“The statute at issue is clear and unambiguous: it states that a public utility may grant special rates to any town,” the ruling stated. “It thus clearly does not give the PUC the power to impose a discounted rate on a public utility; rather, it grants a public utility the power to propose a discounted rate for a town if the public utility chooses to make such a proposal. 

“Due to the fact that A&R Marine did not propose a discounted ferry rate for the Town in the instant case, under the unambiguous terms of the statute, the PUC was without authority to grant such a request from the Town. For that reason, we consider the Town’s contentions on appeal to be unavailing.”

‘Not the end of the world’

Mr. Rainer said although the town is disappointed with the decision, it could still negotiate with A&R Marine and ask the utility to file for a municipal rate discount with the PUC. Nowhere in the ruling does the court state that such a discount is not permitted, he pointed out.

“If you read through the ruling, the court basically agreed with everything we said, but then they ruled against us,” the administrator said.

“It’s really not the end of the world.”

A&R Marine took over as operator of the ferry between Bristol and Prudence Island after Prudence Island Ferry, owned by the late Bruce Medley, made its last runs to the island in September 2014.

Mr. Medley, who previously had been the sole provider of ferry service to the island for about three decades, died in May 2017 at the age of 65.

A&R Marine Corp., Prudence & Bay Islands Transport, Prudence Island, Prudence Island ferry

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