 __ Whig 20071215(Updated: 2007.12.15 12:06:31 PM) |
City debates marina repairs; Some want boaters to pay costs through user fee increases
By Jordan PressRepairing the city's marinas will cost $220,000 in 2008, but the city won't look to boaters to cover the costs.
That, they heard, would drive away business.
But the city's deputy mayor said Kingston has to accept the fact that it is not a waterfront city.
Deputy Mayor Bill Glover said the city has ignored waterfront development and a full range of services for citizens and boaters to enjoy.
"The ability of Kingstonians to enjoy the water is severely curtailed," he said. "We don't offer very much and, yes, the boating community might have a lot of money ... but that does not mean they ignore value for money."
Glover said if boaters spend about $800,000 a year on docking fees, they likely spend more at local businesses.
"If we don't provide facilities, we will be hurting ourselves," he said.
For those reasons, he said, council shouldn't remove the $220,000 earmarked in the capital budget for marina repairs.
Whether the city should be in the business of operating marinas is still the subject of debate.
At Tuesday night's budget meeting, the city's mayor suggested city hall shouldn't be in the marina business at all.
Mayor Harvey Rosen said the city needed to look "at different ways of running marinas" including ways "where we're not on the hook" for costs.
"If [docking fees] are not competitive with the private sector, we're not going to get the business," Rosen said.
He said an additional surcharge could push boaters away, causing the marinas to lose business.
That would leave the city with less money to put towards repairs, Rosen said.
"It's a very difficult and very precarious road we walk," he said.
Councillor Steve Garrison pushed to have boaters pick up most of the cost for the repairs by adding a special surcharge on docking rates next season.
He said if the city charges users for water and sewers upgrades and arena users for facility repairs, then those people who use the marinas should pay for those repairs.
City staff said that additional surcharge or fee would likely drive away boaters.
"Could we add a surcharge? ... Any significant increase ... would drive people away in droves," said Denis Leger, the city commissioner who oversees marina operations.
A surcharge to cover the majority of costs would be about $500 a boat, Leger said.
Councillor Leonore Foster said if the city wanted to be in the marina business then it had to maintain the property.
"[They are] our facilities, they're in need of repairs and we need to repair them," she said.