Moorage rates and many of the other port and harbor fees will increase by 2.5% on July 1, along with trash pickup charges by the same amount as the borough follows a strategy of keeping pace with long-term inflation through small, consistent increases rather than sudden, larger hikes.

The assembly approved the rate increases on April 14 as part of its annual review of all fees charged for borough services.

Sewage and water service rates did not change under the annual review.

The administration plans to spend the next month reviewing water and sewage service rates to confirm they generate enough revenue to cover debt for major utility projects.

Borough Manager Mason Villarma noted that these financial commitments involve the borough’s new water treatment facility, a required upgrade to the sewage treatment plant, and continuous repairs to buried pipe.

Villarma told the assembly that a steady approach protects residents from the drastic price jumps seen in nearby towns.

““It’s a good thing for modeling rates that prevents us from doing these big rate hikes, which you’re seeing in other communities,” he said. “I’m hearing 20-something percent for sewer in Petersburg this year. I think Ketchikan just did 8% or 10% on their municipal harbor rates.”

The 2.5% increase applies to most harbor services, including moorage, electric service in the harbors and moorage at the City Dock.

The largest increase in port and harbor fees approved by the assembly will raise the commercial passenger wharfage fee from $7 to $9 per person. Villarma noted this change will not take effect until the next season to give cruise lines advance notice.

He emphasized the importance of these funds for the budget.

“We do have about 75,000 passengers slated for this year,” he noted. “Just as an example, that’s $150,000 to the port ($2 per passenger) just in that change right there.”

Other harbor changes approved by the assembly include a new rate structure for boat storage. To encourage better use of available space, long-term monthly storage will now cost twice as much as short-term storage.

Garbage pickup rates for all container sizes will also see a 2.5% inflationary bump. The fees for people who take trash to the transfer station on the north end of the island also will go up 2.5%.

Villarma explained that while the community has been successful in securing grants for new equipment — including a recent $300,000 garbage truck — rates must still cover the rising costs of operations and maintenance.

“If we did, in fact, have to purchase some of that equipment, or build some of these buildings, or complete some of these projects, your rates would be double what they are,” Villarma said. He credited the staff’s ability to win grant funding for keeping costs manageable for the public.

The manager also alerted the assembly to the high costs of managing the monofil for residents to dump organic material, such as root wads, tree limbs, clean wood, dirt, rocks and other debris. The borough is developing a new monofil just across the driveway from the current dump site on Ishiyama Drive next to the outdoor shooting range. The existing dump site is full and the new site is not yet open to the public.

“It’s not like you can just shut the doors on the old monofill and move on to the new one,” he said. “There’s a pretty heavy expense along with it, and we’d probably expect a quarter-million dollars into the life of that project.”