Feds give port millions; golf course still losing

Published 6:00 am Sunday, May 13, 2018

FRANKLIN — The St. Mary Parish economy could see a  boost by year’s end from the Port of Morgan City, once commissioners get their hands on a $20 million award from the federal government to deepen the Atchafalaya River Channel.

Mac Wade, director, briefed the St. Mary Parish Council on Wednesday. He said  the addition will bring the total award to $32 million, which will be earmarked for the most part, to open a channel in the river for ships to enter the port.

Wade said each ship that uses the port represents $300,000 for the parish economy, and the last time that happened was roughly five years ago. 

He said since its inception in 1957, port commissioners have tried in earnest to market the port as a viable alternative for vessels requiring a 20-foot waterway.  However, the problem that has plagued the port  is the amount of silt flowing down the Atchafalaya River. The silt originates from Simmesport, near Marksville, where the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers intersect at the Morganza Spillway

By law, 30 percent of the Atchafalaya River is diverted into the Atchafalaya River.

The silt travels the 135-mile stretch to the southern reaches of the river, near Morgan City and Berwick. As it enters the bay, the silt is considered fluff. 

However, once it settles at the bottom of the river, it becomes mud.

“We can’t keep opening our port and then closing it 90 days thereafter, because of the silt. That’s no way to run a business,” Wade said. 

The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that traffic between points in the southwest United States  and the Upper Mississippi River Valley could save approximately 342 miles per round trip if ships would use the Atchafalaya River.

“The entire parish will benefit from this,” Wade said. “This is going to be good.”

In other business, Councilman Glen Hidalgo made a request to Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange, for the council to meet with the Atchafalaya at Idlewild Golf Course Commission.

The meeting is to discuss proposals from four different management companies seeking to manage the parish owned 18-hole golf course, which has been operating in the red since it opened in 2007.

In 2017, the golf course fiscal year ended with $771,863 in revenues but $1.179 million in expenses, generating a loss of $407,325.

In 2016, the golf course fiscal year ended with $823,000 in revenues and $1.172 million in expenses, leaving a $350,000 deficit.

St. Mary Parish taxpayers paid $4.5 million in 2007 to build the facility.

However, LaGrange and Parish President David Hanagriff said the course is an economic boon to the parish; LaGrange said a 2014 study showed the course pumping $5 million into the St. Mary Parish economy.

Hidalgo wants the meeting, because he said the council has no final authority over the golf course, that rests with the golf course commission.

“I believe any of these four companies could turn this thing around and make it work, after reviewing their proposals,” Hidalgo said.

“All of them indicate that in three years, they can have this thing in the black,” he said.

The four companies vying for the are:  Kemper Sports of Illinois, OB Sports of Phoenix,  Billy Casper Golf Management of Illinois, and Touchstone Golf Management of Austin.

“With all of the negative publicity the course gets when it comes to the budget, it is time something is done. I believe hiring one of these companies will be the way to go,” Hidalgo said.