Town Leaders Discuss Melville Campground RFP

By Doug Smith

Our guests on this week’s program were Portsmouth Finance Director, Jim Lathrop, and Town Administrator, John Klimm. The topic was the recently issued Request for Proposals (RFP) to operate the Melville Pond Campground, a town-owned facility that has lost money over the past couple of years. This action was discussed in the context of examining all town-owned facilities as potential revenue sources to help balance the town budget going forward. Both guests emphasized the need to look at user fees if tax increases are to be avoided. Lathrop indicated that most other towns in Rhode Island have had user fees in place for years, while Portsmouth has depended almost solely on tax dollars to fund the town’s operations. According to his calculations, discussed in a recent Newport Daily News article, there is a potential for almost $500,000 in fee revenue if the recommendations of the newly formed Revenue Generation Committee are followed.

John Klimm discussed the business opportunity offered in the new business model proposed for the Melville Campground. While he has already received some interest from some of the large national campground chains, he would like to see someone local step up and take it over. Management of the campground includes the use of a year round residential home. Details of this proposal are included in the RFP, which is available on the town website www.portsmouthri.com or by contacting Portsmouth Business Director, Bill Clark at 643-0382.

The August 15 Edition of Portsmouth This Week – Revenue Generation Discussion (including Melville Campground) will be shown periodically on Public Access TV (Cox channel 18) and is available for viewing at: http://youtu.be/eV-gnRpBHhs

This show and all our other shows are also available at a link on the www.portsmouthri.com web site.