Plans to change the fees charged for boat docks across the state are going back to the drawing board. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources had planned to bring a new fee structure to the Natural Resources Commission in August, but public hearings on the issue caused them to change plans. D-N-R Law Enforcement Bureau chief Lowell Joslin says there was a lot of concern over the fee increase. He ways they have some very good things in the proposals, “But many things are overshadowed by unreasonably high costs for commercial docks. So, we’re going to look at the issues and work on improvements.” Joslin says dock owners are currently charged a set fee for their docks regardless of their size or location.He says they’re charged an annual fee of either two dollars or four dollars for each slip in the marina depending on the size of the vessel that fits in the slip. Joslin says, “There are people around the state that look at the as unreasonably low. In fact, laughable.” Joslin says the new plan would’ve used a formula that took into account the size, location and other factors in charging fees to dock owners. He says those formulas “Go from one extreme to the other. We go from exorbitantly low fees, to exorbitantly high fees. So much so, that the public input that I took was all negative. So we need to go back and look at some resolution that’s going to be fair and reasonable.” Joslin says they’ll get together a group of people to come up with a new fee structure. He says he’s sure they’ll start working on the plan this late summer of fall and he’s sure they’ll come up with a finished product. Joslin says it’s been 20 years since the current rules covering private and commercial boat docks in the state were written.
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