The Haines Borough Port and Harbor Advisory Committee is recommending the Small Boat Harbor raise its fees to bring in more revenue for the facility, which has historically operated at a deficit.

The committee at its April 27 meeting voted 5-0 to recommend increasing annual moorage fees by $2 this year, from $20 to $22 per foot for vessels less than 40 feet long. (The rate would increase from $26 per foot to $28 per foot for vessels over 40 feet.)

Transient moorage fees would also increase by 10 percent, from 50 to 55 cents per foot per day for short-term moorage and $5 to $5.50 per foot per month.

Committee member and boat owner Bill Rostad, who supports the increase, said even with the increase, the Small Boat Harbor is “a great bargain.”

“I spend more money getting coffee at Mountain Market (annually) than I do on moorage fees,” Rostad said.

The rate increase will bring an “infusion of capital” that is badly needed at the harbor, Rostad said. For example, Rostad pointed to wave action damaging the relatively new docks, which will need to be fixed. Where is that money going to come from, he asked.

“The borough takes most of the (raw) fish tax money and that doesn’t come back to the harbor,” he said.

Committee president Norman Hughes said the group elected to raise revenues rather than cut services when asked by borough manager David Sosa to trim the department’s expenses by 6 percent or figure out a way to raise revenues by 6 percent.

“We’re looking at ways to generate revenue at the harbor because we aren’t matching revenues with expenses,” Hughes said. “We want to show that we are trying to pay our way at the harbor.”

According to the recommendation, the $2 jump in annual moorage rates is a one-time deal; the rates will go back to the standard $1 bump per year for the next four years, Hughes said.

The committee’s recommendation also includes fees for the rental of boat stands, minimum slip length fees at the Small Boat Harbor increasing from 15 to 25 feet, and setting the Letnikof joint-use permit fee at the 40-foot minimum feet class. The assembly holds final authority over raising the rates and must do so by ordinance.

It’s unclear when the assembly will address the recommendation, which Hughes submitted in ordinance form on May 9.