The St. Ignace Marina will enjoy a strong 2006 season, predicts administrator Eugene Elmer, who notes that the summer of 2005 was the marina’s best. The marina took in $57,000 more in revenue than it had in expenses this year, he noted, and he expects 2006 to mirror that success, based on scheduled events and the popularity of the marina.

The marina was expanded from 22 slips to 136 slips two years ago. To help pay for its share of the upgrade, the City of St. Ignace sold $1 million in revenue bonds and is redeeming them over a 20-year period. It now pays $80,000 a year, although that yearly bill will gradually be decreased as the city gets closer to paying off the bonds.

“We were a payment-and-a-half behind in the 2003-04 year because we didn’t make any revenue,” Mr. Elmer said. “Going into 2005, we had a debt of $90,000, but now, thanks to a good summer, we made up $60,000 of that debt.”

The city will also be reimbursed another $10,000 from the Michigan Waterways Commission for a $26,000 electrical upgrade it finished this summer to accommodate the Great Lakes Cruising Club that visited in June.

The remaining $20,000 debt will be paid by transferring funds raised for the city’s lighthouse erection project at the railroad dock, said Mr. Elmer, which will be reimbursed as promised grants and donations come in by next spring.

The Great Lakes Cruising Club and Grand Banks rendezvous in 2004 were a real boost to profits, Mr. Elmer told the St. Ignace Harbor Authority Thursday, December 22. Those two groups, which bring 35 and 60 boats to the marina, respectively, are expected to return soon. They are booked at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club and St. Clair Shores Marina for next summer.

Fuel revenue was up $10,000 in 2005, said Mr. Elmer, and he commended this year’s marina staff, headed by Jeff Davenport. Returning staff members are expected to receive a 25¢ raise next summer.

Seasonal moorage rates will increase 2.5 percent next year, although the Waterways Commission will permit a raise up to 5.0 percent.

Rates for 2006 seasonal moorage are as follows: 30-foot slip, $1,374; 38-foot slip, $1,935; 45foot slip, $2,673; 60-foot slip, $3,659.

The marina is equipped with two 100-foot slips for transient boaters only. The marina has 100 slips reserved for transient boaters and 36 slips reserved for seasonal moorage.

Mr. Elmer is talking with Bay Breeze Yacht Charters in Traverse City, which expressed interest in offering up to three 30-foot to 50foot rental sailboats for visitors at the St. Ignace Marina, since, he said, there is a demand for sailing in the North Channel.

To work around the Waterways regulations, which normally do not allow private businesses to occupy slips in a state-funded marina, Mr. Elmer is proposing construction of an additional 110 feet of dockage at the north end of the marina for just those three rental sailboats.

“That way, we’re not using any existing slips,” he said. “I’m hoping the Traverse City company can make a prepayment for the cost of constructing the addition, which may appease Waterways even more, but I need to find out how much it will cost. Right now, the idea is in its preliminary stages.”

Harbor Authority member Louis Leveille said the idea would help the marina a lot, especially with the state’s new marina in Mackinaw City, which is expected to open soon.

“That will definitely be competition,” he said. “It will hurt us.”

Mr. Elmer said the bubbling system at the marina, which prevents ice damage, is working properly, although maintenance is needed to keep snow and ice off the floating piers, which weighs them down, which jeopardizes the electrical connections and pipes to the fuel tanks.

Sand will be placed at the beachfront near the Mackinac Grille restaurant to allow people to enjoy the area more, said Mr. Elmer, as part of the Downtown Development Authority’s railroad dock enhancement project, expected to begin in the spring.

“Where there is a lot of rock now will be sand to allow people to enjoy the beach area better, to walk around, bathe, or just lay out,” said Mr. Elmer.