River Rats Use Amenities, But No Tax Funds to Town
Charleston Gazette
20 September 2010
FRIENDSVILLE, Md. (AP) - The raging rapids of the Upper Youghiogheny
River draw throngs of whitewater enthusiasts to Friendsville each year,
in a season lasting from April to October.
In recent years the number of annual visitors converging on the town
has skyrocketed. In 2000, the companies that guide and outfit Upper
Yough river-goers reported 959 rafts of customers to the state. In
2009, the total reported raft count was 1,363.
An even more dramatic increase appears to be under way since 2009. That
year, the outfitters reported 3,743 individual clients. Just one year
earlier, the outfitters tallied barely more than 3,000 clients.
Those figures don't include the number of private kayakers and boaters
who run the river with their own equipment.
Friendsville Mayor Spencer Schlosnagle estimated that count to be at
least half the number going through the outfitters.
On its face, the increase in tourist traffic might seem like a boon for
the small mountain town. But that depends on whom you ask.
Vernon Sines has been the owner and operator of the S&S Market on
Maple Street for 30 years. He's seen the impact of river visitors in
many ways, but a boost for his business isn't one of them.
"No, no, we sure don't see that," Sines said. "That's for sure."
Most of the whitewater outfitters, Sines pointed out, hold cookouts or
otherwise supply food to their clients, which means visitors only in
town for one day aren't buying from local stores.
"They don't do a whole lot (for local businesses), really," he said.
"It's more of an aggravation, of them parking and changing clothes
wherever and walking up the middle of the road."
While the locals' frustration over out-of-towners' behavior is a
longstanding issue, the Upper Yough's recent popularity boom has newly
irritated the old wound.
Residents report out-of-towners living out of their vehicles in the
streets, drinking in public and changing clothes in the open or in
private garages and sheds.
And the influx of visitors can bring as many as 150 additional cars
into the town, with no parking area big enough to accommodate them all.
"It became exponential this year, with boaters parking in residential
parts of the town," said Jess Whittemore, a 30-year resident of the
area and Town Council member.
Whittemore, himself a "river rat," said he sees recreational boating as
a "fantastic" economic opportunity for the town, if it's handled
correctly.
"If you step back and look at it, it's just a lot of wallets walking
into town. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of wallets," he said.
"What small town of 600 people doesn't want that?"
But as Whittemore and other town officials point out, it's not the
municipality that's currently cashing in on the Upper Yough. It's
county government.
Maryland assesses a 4.5 percent amusement tax on top of the fees
clients pay to the whitewater outfitters. The state hands those dollars
over to the county, because the spot where boaters put in to run the
Yough is at Sang Run, outside the Friendsville limits.
Schlosnagle estimated that the county is taking in about $20,000 per
year from the Upper Yough amusement tax, while Friendsville is getting
approximately $800 per year in what amounts to voluntary contributions
from some outfitters for use of the town's public take-out area.
So on Aug. 24, Schlosnagle, Whittemore and the rest of the council went
before the Garrett County Commission to ask for a piece of the
amusement tax revenue.
"People come into our town and park their vehicles in our town,"
Schlosnagle told the commission. "They're shuttled up to Sang Run and
float down to the town. We feel we should get some portion of the money
that comes to the county."
The commission has taken their comments under advisement and is
examining what can be done, according to County Administrator Monty
Pagenhardt.
In the meeting, the commissioners steered the conversation away from
tax dollars and in the direction of supplying more parking restriction
signs to the town.
But Schlosnagle said more signs aren't the answer. For one thing, the
town has no money to hire even a part-time enforcement officer to make
sure people are abiding by the restrictions.
"These really are opportunities," commission President Ernie Gregg told
the Friendsville council members. "From the time all this started, way
back when, a lot of the local people disdained the river rats. But
their money is green like anybody else's and we need to find a way to
make this work."
Agnes Lichtner runs the Riverside Hotel on Water Street. Lichtner, too,
said she views the influx of visitors as a positive thing.
"When we see traffic, that's business," she said. "You have to grasp
that opportunity."
She acknowledged that few boaters stay overnight at the historic hotel,
but said they often come in for meals in its restaurant.
"We have dinners that we serve, and they're one of our No. 1
supporters," she said. "When they come off the river they eat here,
more than what the fishermen do."
Whittemore said the number of problems with boaters has decreased since
the organization American Whitewater stepped in and began putting the
word out to the boating community to be more considerate while in
Friendsville.
The town is also drafting a camping ordinance so that law enforcement
can legally control nuisance camping on the streets or town property.
He hopes that new approaches to river visitors, with the help of
redirected amusement tax dollars, will help locals embrace the tourism
and recreation industry.
"Coal mining and timbering is a long-gone natural resource of our whole
area, and this is the new resource," he said.
"It's here, it's never going to go away, which means the kayakers are
never going to go away. The wallets are going to continue to walk into
town."