Harbor advisory board urges capture and oversight of ferry embarkation fees, proposes $1-per-trip recommendation

The Harbor Plan Update Committee discussed a recommendation from the Harbor Shellfish Advisory Board to change how ferry embarkation fees are used and overseen, and to consider raising the fee to $1 per trip.

The recommendation, presented during the committee’s May 12 meeting by a commenter representing the Harbor Shellfish Advisory Board, said the board voted unanimously to support both a dollar-per-trip increase and formation of an oversight group to review receipts and recommend expenditures. “Our recommendation was to raise the fee to a dollar per trip,” the commenter said. The presenter said the board believed the island has not received the full intended share of embarkation revenues since a 2003 law and that, for the last 22 years, much of the money has gone to public safety instead of harbor improvements.

Committee members and other speakers framed the item as two separate issues: (1) capturing and redirecting the existing embarkation revenue to harbor-related uses, and (2) pursuing legislation and local approval to raise the fee. Kim (UHI staff)…