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Finance committee asks staff to explore broader uses for future dockage fees
Summary
The committee directed staff to study potential uses of increased dockage fees for the cruise season beginning 2026, including whether revenues could fund port‑adjacent infrastructure and shared costs, and asked staff to consult with the port director and visitor industry
The Assembly Finance Committee on July 9 directed staff to explore and return with options for how increased dockage fees could be used, including uses beyond the docks enterprise fund.
Director Flick presented an informational memo describing the dockage fee as an enterprise fund revenue source and outlined legal and accounting constraints. “The dockage fee belongs in the docks suite of fees, and that’s an enterprise fund,” Flick said, adding the memo was intended to “lay out kind of the parameters and the guidelines and the rules that we have in place.”
Committee members asked whether Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) rules or local code would restrict how dockage fee revenue is classified or transferred. Flick said GASB is the primary rule‑setter for governmental accounting and that improper classification could result in audit findings. Committee members and staff discussed potential non‑dock uses that could have a clear nexus to cruise ship impacts — for example, road maintenance, park impacts or public safety associated with seasonal visitors — and said staff would work with the port director to validate any claimed nexus.
Assemblymember Smith moved that staff be directed to “explore and determine appropriate funding opportunities for AFC consideration regarding these dockage fees or the increased dockage fees.” There were no objections from committee members and the motion was adopted by unanimous consent.
Staff said the committee’s guidance is to examine a wide spectrum of potential uses, to test legal and accounting constraints, and to bring recommendations and options back to the committee for consideration.
