Using Petersburg’s harbors will cost more, starting in March. The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved the change this week.
The Borough is increasing wide-ranging fees for using the town’s harbors, from amenities to moorage.
Harbor fees were last increased in 2022. Petersburg’s harbor department and the local harbor and ports advisory board recommended this 10% increase to catch up, and keep up, with years of inflation. The harbor board approved it with a 4–2 vote during a November meeting last year.
Harbormaster Glorianne Wollen said rising utility rates, material costs and employee payroll underscore the need for more revenue, and the harbor department tries to propose such increases every few years. She said the 10% increase will amount to about $160,000.
Wollen told the Assembly that if the harbor fees aren’t raised this year, the increase would be requested again next year — and it’d probably be higher.
“So it’s one of those things that we have to have in order to keep things as present — how we manage the facility,” said Wollen. “If we don’t, we would probably see a reduction in staff. We’re that close to the wire.”
Petersburg is a small fishing town, and the commercial fishing fleet is feeling the squeeze from increased costs, limited harvests and some low prices in recent years.
Assembly Member James Valentine voted in support of the increase. At a prior assembly meeting, he said he didn’t love that moorage rates would rise for vessel owners who home port in Petersburg. But this week, he said he understood the need.
“This is not an easy thing, that if the Harbor Board was the one that approved it, it’s pretty necessary,” he said. “And it’s hard. It’s a hard pill to swallow … but ultimately it, just like [Wollen] said, it would come around again and again and again.”
Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor also cast his vote to approve the increase.
“As a harbor user, I don’t like seeing my rates go up. But more importantly, I feel like I understand the importance of our harbors,” he said. “It is one of our most expensive pieces of infrastructure, and it’s also geographically the largest, and as we know, is the economic engine of our community.”
He thanked the harbormaster for attempting to keep costs under control and maintaining the quality service that “we’ve come to expect.”
Annual moorage rates will increase for all stalls, and transient moorage for all vessels staying under 10 days will rise by 10 cents per foot a day. Fees for using the grid, boat launch, drive down dock, crane services, and other amenities like boat pumping and snow removal will also increase.
Tour ship docking and live-aboard fees are increasing as well. And a new user fee was added to the codified list, requiring commercial businesses or vessels that don’t pay for moorage but do commercial operations, like charter or tours, to get a $220 annual commercial use permit.
Vice Mayor Stanton Gregor made the motion to approve the harbor fee increase, seconded by Assembly Member Valentine. It passed 5–0, with assembly members Rob Schwartz and Jeff Meucci excused from the Feb. 17 meeting.
