My concerns about a conflict of interest arising when port commissioners are also port tenants seems to have struck a nerve with at least one commissioner. It deserves a closer look.

All three of the current Port of Kingston commissioners keep their personal boats in our marina. The moorage fees cost them thousands of dollars per year, and they make key decisions on how much to spend on things that benefit the tenants, versus other priorities.

A port commissioner is a trustee of the public commons, with a fiduciary responsibility to the residents of the district. However, as a tenant they also have a personal financial interest in not paying too much for moorage, and in having someone else pay for marina improvements and maintenance where possible (like dredging). Those two interests (public fiduciary duty as a commissioner, and personal financial interest as a tenant) conflict, hence the conflict of interest. The dollar amounts are large enough that it must be considered substantial. Frankly, it is not even a close call.

About 40 percent of the Port of Kingston tenants live in the Kingston 98346 zip code; 105 boaters relative to a population of about 9,297 people. I listen carefully to all residents and their concerns. I have heard clearly from the 1.1 percent who both live in the Kingston zip code and keep a boat in our marina. Not surprisingly, they mostly prefer to keep things the way they are. However, I must also consider the interests of the 99 percent.

The marina moorage rates should be allowed to float upward until the market clears and we have no waiting list, and no vacancies. That is the definition of the market rate. Keeping rates low so that we have a long waiting list is of absolutely no benefit to those in the district, unless they are part of the 1 percent that also moors their boat in our port. The tenants are guests who should expect to receive excellent service in a top notch marina. They should not expect to have a say in port policy and spending priorities. They are valued customers, but not constituents.

Consider the big picture in terms of how the port relates to Kingston. The port owns the downtown waterfront land and much of the cove, literally, from North Beach through the ferry terminal and marina. It has valuable revenue streams totaling about $1.5 million per year, including $600,000 from taxes, parking fees and lease revenue. What are the people getting for all this?

Surrounding our port properties is an economically depressed urban growth area. I sometimes feel that in exchange for others using our waterfront land and cove as a big parking lot, we get the privilege of paying property taxes and seeing our waterfront fenced off. At a minimum, the $600,000 from taxes, parking and leases should be kept in a separate account and not combined in one account with the marina moorage fees.

Commissioner compensation at our port is far more than the “$100 per meeting” figure that is often reported in the media. The Port of Kingston planned 2014 budget includes a compensation package totaling $12,040 per year per commissioner. The $36,120 that will go into the pockets of the three commissioners is an unseemly cash grab. It is hardly negligible. It is over 20 percent of the property taxes those in the district are paying to the port.

Nels Sultan
Candidate
Kingston Port Commission