The borough assembly at its April 26 meeting approved an ordinance to hold boat owners liable for disposing of derelict vessels, after the port commission passed a resolution at its April 7 meeting requesting the change.
The change to municipal code says, “the owner shall be liable for the costs of disposing or destroying the vessel.” The intent is to lessen the burden on the borough of paying for derelict and impounded vessels, which drains the Port and Harbors Department coffers when clunkers take on water or sink, leading the department to pay the bill.
When the Bee, a 60-foot derelict tug, went down at Shoemaker Bay on Jan. 5, it was under the impound process the department began in September, and the former owner was absolved of liability.
Under the old municipal code on impoundment, the borough had to pay the bills for the $26,580 salvage operation of the Bee — $21,000 to hire a dive team and $5,580 to get the tug broken down and stacked up in the parking lot at Shoemaker Bay in pieces — nearly wiping out the department’s $30,000 salvage budget.
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