News

By Jane Smith

    Boat owners will have to pay about 6 percent extra each month to rent a slip at the Boynton Harbor Marina.
    Boynton Beach city commissioners, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, approved the increase 4-1 at their October meeting. The new monthly rent is $19 per linear foot, up from $18.
    Vice Chairman Justin Katz voted no. He wanted to wait a year and allow boat captains to plan for the rate increase. He said the boat owners had just suffered through construction at the marina and boardwalk upgrades.
    Board member Joe Casello, who mentioned the increase in September, pointed out that boat owners received a free month of rent during the construction period. “We just spent millions of dollars on amenities,” he said.
    Board member Christina Romelus proposed keeping the $19 rate for two years, which the CRA board members approved for the municipal marina.
    Just off Ocean Avenue on the Intracoastal Waterway, the marina offers such water activities as deep-sea fishing, scuba diving charters, watercraft and boat rentals, and sightseeing cruises.
    Splashdown Divers Capt. Lynn Simmons objects to the rental increase.
    “We had one of the worst years in terms of weather where we had to cancel charters,” she said. “I’m not pleased about the increase. When the CRA bought the marina [in 2006], they promised to keep the rental rates low.”
    The Sea Mist III owns its two slips. Miller Time and Ham’r Time fishing charters pay rent to Two Georges, according to Capt. Carl Miller.
    With the increase to $19 a linear foot, the Boynton marina remains below the $22 monthly rate charged by the Riviera Beach and Lake Park marinas. Boynton’s rate is higher than the $11.50 charged by Fort Pierce marina and just above the $17 rate at the Palm Beach Yacht Center.
    The CRA also agreed to have boat owners collect a quarterly log of customers, detailing monthly use by visitors and residents. Failure to comply would result in the loss of the fuel discount at the marina. The CRA offers a cash discount of 20 cents a gallon of gasoline and 30 cents for a gallon of diesel fuel. When using a credit card, the discount is 10 cents a gallon for gasoline and 20 cents a gallon for diesel fuel. That program saves the boat owners about $6,000 per year in fuel costs, according to the CRA.