PORTSMOUTH — Town officials want to be in the room when the R.I. Public Utilities Commission (PUC) hears A&R Marine Corp.’s request to double the cost of taking the ferry to and from Prudence Island.

Under A&R’s rate filing proposal, the cost of a one-way trip for adults between Bristol and Prudence and Hog islands would increase from the current $2.85 to $5.75. For children between 5 and 12, the one-way fee would jump from $1 to $2.

(The complete rate filing request can be read here.)

After discussing the matter in executive session Monday night, the Town Council voted to file a motion to the PUC to become an intervener in the hearings on the proposed fare hikes.

After the meeting, Council President Keith Hamilton said the motion to be an intervener doesn’t mean the council is taking any stance on the rate increase.

“We just have a seat in the room,” he said.

Town Solicitor Kevin Gavin said the PUC is expected to hold its next meeting on A&R Marine’s request in early December, although an exact date hadn’t been determined as of Monday.

Prudence Island School

In other business, the council voted unanimously to write a letter in support of the Prudence Island School Foundation (PISF) in order to help the organization secure grants to improve the school.

Under an agreement with the council and School Committee that was signed in 2009, PISF is responsible for maintenance and repairs to the school building. However, since the building is owned by the Town of Portsmouth, “foundations and grantors are hesitant to award us any funding,” stated Allan Bearse, PISF president, in a recent letter to the council.

The school district once supported the one-room schoolhouse, built in 1896. Elementary aged students who lived on Prudence went to the school, while older students took the ferry to attend either middle or high school in Portsmouth.

In 2009, however, PISF entered into a memorandum of understanding with the district and the town which allowed the Foundation to take on the role of providing support for Prudence Island families who opted to educate their children on the island, rather than send them across the bay for elementary school.

In exchange, the Town Council agreed to contribute a per-student dollar amount to PISF for each of those elementary aged children who are educated on Prudence Island. Later on, PISF made the school available for older students.

Seven students in grades 1 through 10 are enrolled this year at the island school, the only one-room schoolhouse still operating in Rhode Island.