Boaters fond of spending time on Saratoga Lake may find they have the ante up to go on the water if fees being drafted by the Saratoga Lake Protection and Improvement District (SLPID) are realized.
Membersof the SPLID introduced draft legislation in July that calls for owners of motorized boat and docks to register with the district every year and for boaters to pay for day or week use passes. The group is funded by a special property tax levied on properties near the lake, and has a budget of $387,500.
The fee would raise revenue to supplement the group’s efforts to manage non-native aquatic vegetation and also control the number of docks on the lake, and their impacts. A big part of the district’s mission is to administer chemical treatments to the lake.
“It’s just something that really needs doing and to get it just right is what’s taking so much time,” said SLPID’s Commissioner for the Town of Malta Tom Whalen. “The cost is substantial — with the mowers and the chemical treatment are around $250,000. Unfortunately, it grows each year.”
Under the draft proposal, which would have to be adopted as law by municipalities bordering the lake, fees would apply to all users, though prices would differ among transient users and those residing in the SPLID tax district. For a “transient boater,” there would be a yearly registration fee of $25 for a boat of 21 to 30feet in length and a $7.50 fee for one day on the lake, or $10 for a weeklong pass. A schedule outlining the proposed fees based on boat length and residency is available on slpid.org.
Not all hands on deck
Some whose lives are linked to the lake wonder about the necessity of a user fee, though.
“I think there’s still a lot to be considered as far as the legislation itself is concerned,” said Kay Sanford, a board member with the Saratoga Lake Association, a nonprofit not affiliated with the SLPID. “I would reserve judgment until the lake community expresses their opinions.”
Tim Blodgett is the owner of Saratoga Tackle and an active user of Saratoga Lake. He found out about SPLID’s proposal earlier this month and said he would have appreciated it if the organization had informed him of their intentions before then.
“It’s is kind of worrying … about the motives and the reasons behind this,” said Blodgett.
To Bodgett, the objective of the rules seem to be to limit the number of boats on the lake. He said he had attended many SPLID meetings in the past where there was talk about crowding on the water.
“The fact of the matter is, is that as many boats as we do have on the lake, we’ve had just a small number of real incidences compared to other (lakes) … and they’ve been addressed. It’s almost as though they’re trying to create a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” he said.
Blodgett also expressed views on what would become of his business if the laws go through. He caters to fishermen who might go out on the lake several times a week.
“I’m going to lose business – bottom line is I will lose my base,” he said.
Blodgett isn’t alone in his views. Tom Carringi, owner of Point Breeze Marina, has been in business on the lake for 35 years.
“I think it’s really strange that all of a sudden people want to start charging people for stickers to be on this lake,” said Carringi.
When he started his business, he recalls the Lake Association spending money on advertising to attract people to Saratoga Lake.
“Now there’s an organization that wants to chase people off the lake,” he said.
Lee Bombard has been a resident on Saratoga Lake for a dozen years, but has visited it since the early 1970s. He said that everybody on the lake is all for keeping it clean and safe, but that doesn’t have to take legislation to accomplish that.0
He also said that what SPLID is aiming to do is probably the right thing, though so far public outreach has been lacking.
Proposal still a draft
Al McCauley, SLPID’s commissioner for Saratoga Springs, said the organization would be holding public meetings in order to gather opinions on the proposal. From there, input would be incorporated and a draft would be brought to the individual municipalities bordering Saratoga Lake for approval.
McCauley said overcrowding has been an issue as of late.
“The number of boats has increased…it’s overwhelming,” he said.
He added a fee would help the group keep track of users who come in from other places, and might be carrying invasive species with them. Harvesting invasive species is the group’s biggest expense.
To date, SLID has received around 40 responses regarding the proposed legislation from the community. Whalen said it’s about equal between those who are for it, and those against.
