should moorings be free?

[paulk]

I''m intrigued. I just paid my annual $200 fee to my town for a mooring in a harbor with a federal channel. My club maintains all the moorings, provides launch service, fuel, ice, water, and pumpout. The town has a water hose at their own dock, but provides no other services. Perhaps Connecticut''s Constitution is different, but here, if you want to park at the beach, you buy a beach sticker.
On the other hand, it could also be argued that boat owners obviously have more money than they know what to do with, and are a substantial minority of the population. Politicians aren''t all stupid. Almost any one of them can easily identify targets for revenue when the need arises.

[Sailmale]

We have a similar situation in Annapolis, where I moor my boat of one of the local three creeks under the city''s jurisdiction. The city charges an annual $300 fee to moor a boat, and the boat owner has to supply all the mooring hardware. And the city also decides how many moorings there will be and where they are located. As you might imagine, in such a popular sailing area, the waiting lists for moorings are quite long. But, given that a slip for my 30-foot Morgan would cost roughly $2400 a year, the mooring seems like a bargain.

Other neighborhoods near Annapolis with waterfront have enacted similar regulations that limit moorings to people who live in the communities; they too charge for the privilege of owning a boat.

No one said this was ever going to be a cheap hobby.