State fees for wharfs, piers to increase significantly

AUGUSTA — People who own wharfs and piers will see their fees for the submerged land they lease increase dramatically under a new state policy.

The Bureau of Public Lands is notifying owners this week what their fees will be for each of the next 10 years beginning Oct. 1.

At Chandler’s Wharf Marina in Portland, which has 77 slips, it cost a total of $1,471 to lease the submerged land this year. Next year the rent will be $5,224, and in 10 years it will be nearly $39,000 annually.

“Before, the state wasn’t receiving fair market value for the private use of public lands,” said Matthew Bley of the Bureau of Public Lands. “I know it’s a shocker,” he said, “but we’re phasing it in over 10 years.”

Many pier and wharf owners face increases of at least 100 percent and as much as 250 percent each year. They say the increases will be unfair and excessive, and they say the public ultimately will pay for the increased costs.

Antonio DiMillo said that in 10 years, he is scheduled to pay nearly $31,000 for his marina and nearly $19,000 for his floating restaurant, which is a converted boat that is docked at his wharf.

He said it represents a doubling of his marina fee and a 74-percent annual increase in his restaurant fee.

“That’s just not workable,” DiMillo said. The marina “doesn’t make that much money.”

Donna Lucerino of Allen Management in Boston, which manages Chandler’s Wharf Marina, said she understood the state’s intent, but “it’s rather crazy to collect for a past mistake to make up for lost ground.”

The state contends that marina operators and others have used public lands for years at deflated prices.

Under 17th-century ordinances, the public owns underwater land from the low tide mark to the edge of the state’s coastal water territory, three miles out.

The state did not charge wharf and marina owners for using the underwater land until 1975, and since then, the number of leaseholders has grown to 139 who pay fees totaling $45,000, Bley said.

Until now, they all have paid up to 4 cents per square foot depending on the use: commercial fish piers paid 1 cent per square foot, piers with strictly water-related uses paid 2 cents, and uses such as condominiums paid 4 cents.

In theory, a Portland marina and a same-sized marina in an area of Maine where property values are much lower have paid the same fee.

A couple of years ago, the Legislature ordered the Bureau of Public Lands to set up a system to lease the land for fair market value. Instead of charging per square foot, the state now determines its fees by using the value of adjacent shoreland as a base.

Restaurants, offices, condominiums and similar uses are charged 10 percent of the market value. Water-dependent uses such as marinas and boat yards are charged 2 percent and commercial fishing piers are charged 1 percent.

The increases will result in the state’s lease revenues going from $45,000 this year to $65,000 next year, $160,000 in five years and $275,000 in 10 years.

Critics of the increased fees say they do not know where the money will be used, and they do not know of any additional benefits they will receive.

“In 10 years we’ll be paying $31,000, which sounds pretty amazing,” said William Scherr, manager of DiMillo’s marina. “I’m curious about what we’re getting for that, whether they’ll be vacuuming the ocean bottom or what.”

Bley said the money now collected is used to advise the Legislature on the submerged lands program, review lease applications and do related work.

When the fees begin exceeding administrative costs in a year or two, the extra funds will be used to enhance public access to the ocean and lakes throughout the state.

“It’ll be used for public boat ramps, water walkways, public boat slips and things like that,” Bley said.