March 6, 2002 – The St. John Taxi Association's case against the V.I. National Park should be before a U.S. District Court judge by the end of March, park Supt. John King said Wednesday.
No date has been set. "The judge will decide whether there's a bench ruling or a court procedure," King said.
The taxi association has taking the park to court because it believes the park is wrong in requiring that the association or its drivers pay an annual fee for a permit to operate in the park. The suit asserts that Congress has prohibited the National Park Service from charging fees for the use of park roads and overlooks. It further argues that the park's new Commercial Services Plan violates federal law and is unenforceable.
The suit asks for a permanent injunction against any park plan to charge taxi drivers a fee to use park facilities.
King has said the fee is for the use of park facilities such as beaches by visitors. At many national parks, he said, the county government owns the roads, but the tour operators nonetheless pay park fees. Permits are required under the park's Commercial Services Plan that went into effect Jan. 1.
According to King, St. John Taxi Association officials proposed that the park stop issuing warnings to drivers without permits until the matter is decided in court. King said he would not agree to that but instead suggested that the association get a permit with acknowledgment that it was doing so under protest. If the taxi association were to prevail in court, the park would return the $250 fee.
"We're not paying anything," countered Lorelei Monsanto, taxi association spokeswoman.
The park initially set the permit fees at $300 for independent drivers and $750 for associations and companies. In an effort at accommodation, King lowered the fees to $75 for independent drivers and $250 for associations and companies. No permits are required for taxi drivers who only transport people from point A to point B.
King said the park has issued 19 warnings and given a couple of drivers tickets for not having permits. He said he has told park rangers to be "conservative" in citing taxi drivers. "We don't want to exacerbate the situation," he said.
Many St. John Taxi Association drivers have gotten permits on their own because they want to continue to operate in the park, King said. To date, he said, 83 drivers — from associations as well as independent operators — have done so.
He said St. John has a total of 132 drivers who needed to get permits, 60 of them members of the St. John association. If the association gets a permit, it will cover all of its individual members.
The standoff between taxi drivers and park officials began last October, when many drivers at a public meeting on the subject said they would not pay to take tours through the park. Since then, other taxi groups, tour companies and individual drivers have gotten permits, but the St. John Taxi Association has steadfastly refused to do so.
Other tour operators such as those that conduct hiking excursions and daysails have been paying annual fees for permits for years. The new Commercial Services Plan, mandated by Congress, requires all tour operators to have permits.