Ocean Beach hikes ferry company's rent 89%

After 18 months of negotiations, the Village of Ocean Beach and Fire Island Ferries have settled on a 10-year contract that will hike the ferry company's rent by about 89 percent, village clerk-treasurer Steven Brautigam said.

"Everyone left the table unhappy," Brautigam said, "but we are clearly partners going forward."

If passenger projections hold true, rent for the ferry and freight terminals would increase from nearly $290,000 in the 2010 contract to $425,000 with all fees added on.

The spike in rent reflects increases in traffic to the village and maintenance costs since the last contract was signed 10 years ago, he added. A plan to build a new ferry terminal in Ocean Beach in the near future was another driver.

"We are in the process of getting a brand new ferry terminal that is in the realm of $4 to $6 million, and the increased rent will go a long way to help offset the village's portion of paying for that," Brautigam said.

Initially, the village wanted to raise the rent much higher, Brautigam said, and Fire Island Ferries president Tim Mooney had hoped to keep it stable. Mooney also wanted another 10-year contract, which Ocean Beach officials originally rejected.

"Our argument was . . . this rent won't be high enough in three or four years," Brautigam said.

To compromise, they created "escalators" based on volume: If more than 430,000 people ride the ferry per year, the village gets an extra incentive of $1.25 to $2 per head, Mooney said.

"Over 18 months we had at least two dozen meetings, and hundreds of phone calls," Brautigam said. "Every little thing we went back and forth, and sometimes it was tense, but at the end we're clearly partners in it."When the contract was signed at the end of January, "We both walked away with not everything we wanted, but we walked away with what we needed," Mooney said. "I think that's when you know you have a good agreement."