County cuts mooring fees

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT HARBOR -- Orange County supervisors slashed mooring fees here

in half, so boaters renting from the county would pay the same as their

neighbors renting from the city.

As a result of the Board of Supervisors’ unanimous approval of the

move on Tuesday, county mooring fees dropped from $38 to $20 per linear

foot, per year.

The move was in response to cries from boaters who wanted to pay the

same as their neighbors renting from city mooring balls.

“It’s to bring them in line with the rest of the moorings in the

harbor,” said Grave Dove, an analyst with the county’s Public Facilities

and Resources Department.

The move will result in the loss of $10,998 in county revenue derived

from the harbor. Each year, the county pulls in $2.3 million in revenue

from slip and mooring rentals, as well as from its lease with Newport

Dunes Waterfront Resort.

The county owns 18 moorings in the harbor. The city operates 1,221

mooring balls, about 98.5% of all the floating tie-downs.

Newport Beach Councilman Steve Bromberg, who owns a boat himself, said

he was happy to hear of the board’s move.

“It’s nice to hear the county did that,” Bromberg said. “This is a

fair deal.”

Ironically, the city is poised to hike mooring fees. Assistant Manager

Dave Kiff said the city has kept the fees capped for almost two years.

“We haven’t touched mooring fees in more than a year,” Kiff said.

The city’s Harbor Quality Committee is set to take up the matter early

next year.

Kiff said he had hoped the county would transfer its 18 moorings to

the city, a move that did not occur.

The county first hiked mooring fees in 1985, when the board approved

the three-year phasing in of an increase that brought the fee to $25 per

foot, per year. Every year since then, the county has imposed an average

cost-of-living increase of 3% to 4% per year.

The city and county co-own the waters of Newport Harbor because of

tidelands grants from the state.