Tidelands New Fees

Like many dock owners, I got a nasty surprise from the Bureau of Tidelands Management just a few days before Christmas 2009. My riparian license is going up 340%. Furthermore, its retroactive to Jan 2008, and they're assessing a $150 "processing" fee for good measure.

When the dock was built, I paid $290 per year. Now, I'm going to be charged $995 per year. Over a decade, that will add up to $10,000. With these exorbiant new fees, I might prefer not to own the dock, and just moor my boat, but I have no choice since the dock exists.

The letter from the Bureau merely states:

the Council adopted a license fee calculation method based upon a flat base rate multiplied by the square footage of the license area.

It doesn't describe the flat base rate amount nor the size of my license area. Fortunately, an article in the Press of Atlantic City on Sept 30th, 2009 goes into some of the details.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/top_three/article_13b0c2d0-ace4-11de-bcf2-001cc4c002e0.html#user-comment-area

The article explains that the new rate is 49 cents per square foot. Attorney John Scott Abbot is quoted in the article explaining that dock owners may be overcharged for lease areas greater than their dock requires.

I've put in a call to my State Senator to see if she is aware of this issue and how it affects a potentially large number constituents. Senator Jennifer Beck's (R-Monmouth) district covers several towns with residential waterfront properties, including Fair Haven, Red Bank, Little Silver, and Ocean Port.