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oat owners in Pamlico County and across NC will soon be paying at least twice as much as they have been to register their boats. The legislation co-sponsored by Pamlico County Republican Senator Norm Sanderson and Onslow Republican Senator Harry Brown pushes fees from $15 a year to $30 for boats up to 26 feet long.

No, the proposal to charge more for boat registration did not go away. It’s on pages 256-260 of the state budget which the Republican majority in the House and Senate is expected to handily pass today. Pamlico County Senator Norm Sanderson co-sponsored the legislation.

Boaters with vessels 26 feet and longer, will be paying $50 — more than 3 times what they do now. The higher fees take hold on October 1.

Sanderson Bill Has Pamlico County’s Many Boats Paying, Not Benefiting

Sanderson and Brown had co-sponsored Senate Bill 58 which initially called for raising boat registration fees up to ten times over to finance a dredging fund on the barrier island inlets between Wilmington and the Outer Banks. No dredging is spelled out for Pamlico County.

Boats such as these in Pamlico County waters — and across the state — will be paying twice to more than three times as much in registration fees as they do now in order to pay for dredging on part of the coast (not in Pamlico County).

That point particularly stuck with Pamlico County vessel owners and marina operators who saw themselves paying but not benefiting. There was an outcry among them when the Sanderson-sponsored bill emerged in the winter.

Measure Emerges In Budget

In May the measure was sent to a House committee and little was heard of it since. Several opponents thought it had gone away. It had not. A scaled-back version of the Sanderson-Brown bill is included in the 2013-14 budget which is up for a final vote today. It’s about to become law.

Representative Tom Murry of Wake County, chair of the House Committee on Commerce and Job Development which last considered the measure, told TownDock.net on Monday that he understood that the language about dredging is what became part of the budget. Murry said he “didn’t know about” boat registration fees, the part of the measure that got the attention of – and drew ire from – many boat owners.

Touted As A “Increase Funding For Dredging”

Page 256 of the budget refers to the change in the registration fees as “Increase Funding For Dredging.”

Below that title are clearly spelled out the details that prompted an outcry from boat owners — and Pamlico County marina operators — this winter.

Documented Boats Would Have To Register, Too

Senator Norm Sanderson.

The hike in registration fees — from $15 to $30 and $50 a year — is only part of the measure. The new language about to become law would also require more boats than ever to register in NC — and pay up. The long-standing exemption for registration enjoyed by federally documented boats evaporates with the Sanderson-Brown legislation. Federally documented boats in NC more than 90 days will have to register in NC – and pay the newly raised registration fee.

Marina operators said that would adversely affect their business with transient boaters.

Registration Required For Any Boat In NC For 90 Days

Boats registered in other states that are in NC for 90+ days would also have to register here; that particular requirement has been in place before, but appeared to have been loosely enforced. That requirement came to light during the outcry over the Sanderson/Brown legislation.

Why The Hike: To Dredge Certain – But Not All — Of The State’s Waters

Half of the money raised from the boat registration fees will go to what’s being called the Shallow Draft Navigation Channel and Lake Dredging Fund.

Through that fund, the state is to provide funds for local governments to have their inlets dredged. The communities would pay half and the fund would pay the other half. The measure does not spell out what a community has to do to qualify.

These are the waters to be dredged, benefiting from the statewide hike in boat fees.

The dredging fund is listed in the budget as being 2.2 million dollars in the 2013-14 budget year, and almost as much in 2014-2015.

No waters in Pamlico County are specifically listed as beneficiaries of the fund sought by Sanderson, the Senator from Arapahoe.

No inland lakes are specifically mentioned, either, even though the legislation was renamed to include “Lake Dredging” in its title.

Financing Dredging Through Boat Fees, Gas Tax

The boat registration fees will not be going up as much as Senators Sanderson and Brown initially proposed. (Senate Bill 58 originally would have charged as much as $150 a boat for boats 40 feet and longer.) The ultimate version of the bill, however, would have one-sixth of one percent of the NC excise tax on gasoline going to the Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging Fund.

The new boat registration fees will take hold in the fall.

Posted Wednesday July 24, 2013 by Melinda Penkava