Mermaid Subsidies?

Buccaneer Bay accounts for most of Weeki Wachee’s revenue, but its fate under state ownership remains up in the air.

Come October, the state will add a new position to its payroll: Mermaid.

The owners of the Weeki Wachee attraction — the nine residents of the city of Weeki Wachee — in January signed an agreement to give the Hernando County attraction to the state. The 61-year-old natural springs park, which features swimmers clad as mermaids, had been fighting a 4½-year legal battle over its lease with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which owns the 27 acres it occupies 50 miles north of Tampa. The crux of the fight involves the legality of the city’s ownership of the roadside attraction and the agency’s insistence that Weeki Wachee obtain a separate underwater lease for use of the springs.

A key issue as the state takes over is what parts of the attraction it will continue to operate. The state has promised to continue the mermaid show, but the fate of the adjacent spring-fed water park known as Buccaneer Bay is uncertain. John Athanason, marketing and public relations director for Weeki Wachee Springs, thinks it would be a mistake to close the water park, which provides a center of community activity and generates more revenue than the mermaid show, he says. Closing the water park would likely mean the state would have to subsidize the mermaid show, he says. Overall, the attraction generated more than $3 million in 2007 and makes a small profit.

Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Sarah Williams says the state plans to solicit public input.

Athanason’s main concern now is whether the state can find the money to classify the Weeki Wachee workers as full-time employees. “Full-time employee positions we’re going to have to lobby for. With the current status of the state budget, there are not full-time positions available. We have our work cut out for us.”

Tags: Politics & Law, Dining & Travel, Southwest, Government/Politics & Law