Who pays? The ferryman?

With all the debate over the Palm Beach Ferry and the dredging of the channel, has anyone thought who ultimately pays for all of this?

That's right, us ratepayers!

So let me get this straight.

Palm Beach Ferries operates 10 services a day, 365 days per year, and presumably makes a lot of money doing so.

Now that they say they have trouble with grounding of the vessel on the sand bars, they want the Council and the NSW State Government to pay for the dredging.

Is Palm Beach Ferries contributing to this?

After all, they are the ones making a profit from their service.

Assuming that the channel should be dredged every five years at a cost of $300,000, if Palm Beach Ferries were to be charged a lousy $10 each time they berthed at the "public" wharf at Ettalong, then over five years Council would have $182,500 in their dredging fund.

And that's just one commercial user of the waterways.

I'm not real happy about my rates subsidising their business.

We all have to pay our way and so should they.

Jill Donald Umina Beach