Avalon alters fee collection for mooring fee agreement

Island Enterprises due to pay nearly $59,000 in fees owed to the city.

AVALON — A dispute between the city of Avalon and one of the city’s largest business operators appears to have been resolved.

Avalon’s City Council voted Dec. 5 to collect fees in the amount of $58,939 as part of a mooring lease resolution. The item was briefly discussed as part of the council’s Consent Calendar – quite a distinct departure from what happened at City Hall nearly five months earlier.

Island Enterprises’ obligation is more than $52,000 over what was calculated by the City Council in July.

The July 18 City Council meeting featured a heated debate ensued between representatives from Island Enterprises and council members, over a contract that had been executed back in 1997 concerning leasing moorings for the glass-bottom boat tours Island Enterprises offers.

City Council members initially determined Island Enterprises would pay Avalon about $6,600, but city staff’s estimate was about $52,000 higher.

After approving a course of action to calculate the exact fees due in July at the request of Council member Richard Hernandez, there showed a major difference in amounts calculated from the City Council’s opinion to city staff. While the City Council proposed total fees of $6,658.17, calculations prepared by the staff showed a phenomenal $52,281 difference.
In the past, Island Enterprises and council members could not determine whether fees were included in the lease agreement for Island Enterprises’ moorings or not, and this caused a clash.

Both sides appeared to come to a resolution this month, as Island Enterprises has been requested to pay due fees.

City staff urged council members to “rescind prior determination on the methodology of determining mooring fees for Island Enterprises and approve staff’s methodology in determining for mooring fees owed to the city by Island Enterprises, which fees total $58,939.00, subject to an executed agreement between the city and Island Enterprises regarding their summer end float.”

Island Enterprises, which moors its boats in city property, will pay nightly mooring fees as part of its lease agreement with the city.

City officials and Island Enterprises representatives had also engaged in a back-and-forth discussion on Avalon’s shoreboat service.

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