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How two boats saved South Ferry Understanding your 2010 assessment

Thank you for putting the photos of the North Haven and Capt. Ed Cartwright leaving for North Carolina in last week’s Reporter. The departure of those two vessels closes an important chapter in the history of Shelter Island, South Ferry and my family. In essence, the North Haven and Capt. Ed saved South Ferry as a family business.


From the 1920s through the 1950s South Ferry operated with two wooden boats, each only capable of carrying six to seven cars and limited trucks. The needs of our Island began to exceed the carrying capacity of our small fleet. With no money to build a new boat, Bill’s and my father, Bill Clark, and our uncle, Donald Clark, were forced to look for cheap old boats. They found them at the Sunrise Ferry Company, which serviced Elizabeth, New Jersey and Staten Island. They had recently gone out of business. Their fleet was excessed and Capella (later North Haven) and Piermont (later Capt. Ed Cartwright) were purchased by South Ferry. Capella arrived in 1959. She was renamed North Haven at the request of the Village of North Haven.


Piermont, acquired in 1960, was built in 1931. She was the second-oldest ferryboat in America to be built with all welded-steel construction as opposed to the combined rivet and weld technique more common back then. She served near Piermont, New York, until the Tappan Zee Bridge put the route out of business, sending her down to Staten Island. She was named Capt. Ed Cartwright in 1983 after a beloved South Ferry captain who passed away too young.


Dad and Tink Clark brought Piermont to Shelter Island in 1960. En route, they almost lost her and possibly their lives in a sudden storm in Long Island Sound. So old and in disrepair was she that many local observers laughed thinking the old boat had no life left in her and that Dad was out of his mind. Only Tink and Walter Schumann, founding editor of the Reporter, seemed supportive and shared his vision of what this relic could be.


Fifty years and millions of riders later, at 0610 hours on Tuesday, September 16, the old girl and North Haven sailed from the South Ferry’s east landing toward her new home in North Carolina looking not much better than she did when she arrived in 1960 but still mechanically sound. Bill Clark, Tish Clark, Bill Johnston lll and I watched the two workhorses until they cleared the south tip of Mashomack in their final voyage on Shelter Island waters. We all reflected on their history and the impact they both had on the lives of Shelter Islanders when the need for more lifting capacity was there, but the money was not.


In addition to the obvious ferry operations performed by these boats, they have hosted weddings, funerals, the spreading of ashes and fun parties. They have made emergency trips at night and in treacherous storm conditions and have joined in rescue operations for distressed mariners. They have delivered fuel to Gardiners Island and served as platforms for dredging and dock building.


Some of you undoubtedly have personal memories of each boat. I write this now so everyone who is interested can know what happened here last Tuesday and how important were these old boats to Shelter Island, and to pen a few words in honor of the half-century of service they provided to our special Island.


I kept in daily touch with the new owner, Mark Lewis, during their journey south. They cleared New York Harbor Tuesday night and were off Sandy Hook, New Jersey by 7 a.m. Wednesday. Some wind forced them to shelter in Barnegat Bay overnight. They then continued their trip inland along the Intracoastal Waterway past Atlantic City to Cape May. From there they made a very gutsy move and went back off shore all the way to Norfolk, Virginia where they re-entered the IntracoastaI and finished their trip near Wilmington, North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon. 


The trip went without a hitch. Mark, who owns shrimp boats and crew boats, said it was the first time he has ever made a long delivery in a used boat where he did not have a single mechanical issue that delayed him. To me that is the ultimate tribute to my father, a brilliant diesel mechanic, who trained John Clark, who in turn trained our present maintenance team of Phil Dunne, Mike Mundy, Joey Clark and Seth Green. We were all taught by them that taking the time to do it right is the only way.


Mark intends to use them as workboats for dredging, marine contracting and transporting equipment in the Wilmington area. The old boats just want to keep working — and so it goes.


We have been hearing the same question from many property owners: Will our assessments be reduced to reflect lower home sale prices? The answer is yes.


Assessments are a lagging indicator and thus are always a year behind changes in the market. This year, except for new construction, assessments were reduced between one percent and two percent. This reduction was achieved by considering all the sales activity for the three-year period ending July 1, 2008. The July 1, 2008 date is dictated by law and was our analytical cutoff date for 2009 assessments. Prior to July 1, 2008, Shelter Island property values were only just beginning to demonstrate weaker sale prices. 


For 2010 assessments, the analytical cutoff date was July 1, 2009. By using sales data from the three years prior to this date, we have found a property value reduction of approximately 10 percent. If the current assessing year, July 1, 2009 through July 1, 2010 continues to bring sale prices that are below assessed values, those reductions will be reflected in assessments for the roll year 2011.


We conduct an annual reassessment, which means that all properties are reassessed at the same time every year. This not only creates assessed values that are transparent and fair, it also ensures that assessments rise or fall uniformly.


The next question might be, “Will lower assessments result in lower taxes?” That, unfortunately, is not the case. 


Your overall tax bill is dependent on the budgets of the school, library, town, fire department, and the county; this means that unless budgets decrease, our taxes will increase. If budgets increase, our taxes will increase even with reduced assessments.


The table below is an example of how the dynamics of assessment and budgets affect each other. For the years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, assessment figures are factual. The assessment figure for 2010-2011 and budget figures for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are estimated to illustrate a point and are not intended to be a prediction of future budget costs.