Gloucester Waterways Board Raises Mooring Fee to $70, Defers Tiered Structure

GLOUCESTER -- January 7, 2025, Gloucester Waterways Board raises transient mooring and boat ramp fees for the 2025 season. The board voted unanimously at its January 7 meeting to raise the nightly transient mooring fee from $65 to $70, approving a flat increase after rejecting, for now, a Finance Committee recommendation for a three-tier structure that would have charged up to $80 for vessels over 45 feet. Board member Peter Young presented a market analysis of roughly 20 to 25 comparable harbors from Cape Cod to the New Hampshire border, finding the regional average at $69 per night and concluding that "there's no difficulty between $69 and $70." The board voted 6 to 1 to raise the daily boat ramp fee at Dunfudge Landing from $10 to $15, keeping the $100 annual season pass unchanged, and voted unanimously to replace the $5-per-hour Harbormaster dock tie-up with a $20 flat fee for up to three hours. All three changes go to the mayor's office and require City Council approval before taking effect; members said the board cannot currently fund even a 20 percent grant match on major marina repairs, with cash reserves well below a historical high of roughly $500,000.