The first in a series of user-fee increases was approved Feb. 8 by Port of Port Townsend commissioners, with two exceptions.

Commissioner Steve Tucker said he was “not comfortable” approving the rate sheet presented Feb. 8 because two specific fees were different than those circulated at public workshops Jan. 25 and Feb. 1.

Greg Englin, the port’s director of operations and business development, said the slight changes to the liveaboard fee and a linear dock rate for boats 25 feet long or less were due to clerical errors not caught on the initial copy, and were changed for the copy presented Feb. 8. The port had not consistently included state leasehold tax on all its rate sheets, and leasehold inclusion is the goal going forward, Englin noted.

Sam Gibboney, port executive director, said the commission is allowed to make corrections to the proposed rate sheet, and even change what had been previously discussed. All customers are to receive notice of new rates that would take effect April 1, she noted.

“I don’t feel comfortable adopting a set of rates that got changed,” Tucker emphasized.

Commissioners Pete Hanke and Brad Clinefelter agreed with Tucker to adopt the rate sheet as presented with the two corrections.

The permanent moorage rate on the linear dock for boats 25 feet or less remains $7.25 a foot per month, which includes leasehold tax. The port intended the fee to be $8.18 with leasehold tax.

The liveaboard fee remains $88 a month with leasehold tax and not $100 as proposed.

There are 20 liveaboards at the Port Townsend Boat Haven, and winter-season liveaboards are allowed at Point Hudson.

Commissioner Hanke, a moorage tenant, said he was “not real excited” to raise rates 10-16 percent.

“I understand as a moorage tenant that it is a heavy hit to take this,” Hanke said, but he trusts the staff to present a budget that requires the rate increase.

Clinefelter said the moorage increase “hurts me, too,” but he has the “utmost faith” in port staff as both money-making and cost-saving measures are being taken.

Gibboney, who noted the “mature” public discussions at the two rate workshops, said the port district is facing $12 million in mission-critical capital projects. A rate increase proposal is forthcoming for both the boatyard and shipyard, and for Jefferson County International Airport.

“It’s really driven by the capital [project] needs of the organization,” Gibboney said of the rate hikes.

Public comment was offered by Jack Becker of Port Townsend, a moorage tenant and marine tradesman who moors a 42-foot wooden boat. He lamented the decrease in the number of wooden boats in local waters that he has observed over the past 20 years.

“A big rate increase like this is just going to increase that loss of local boaters,” Becker said, because most wooden boats tend to be owned by people of modest means.

“This isn’t just a hobby. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a community,” Becker said. “It’s a big part of the heart of this town. I don’t want to see it go away.”

John Collins of Port Townsend, a former port commissioner who has kept a small boat on a moorage buoy, said it may be time for some boat owners to downsize into a craft that can be trailered.