Boaties will now have to pay to park their trailer near some boat ramps in Tauranga.

It will cost $20 a day to park a boat trailer near the Pilot Bay, Sulphur Point and Whareroa Reserve boat ramps.

Tauranga residents will be able to purchase a $200 yearly pass for their trailer instead of paying the daily charge.

The charges were introduced on July 1.

Pukehina resident Richard Howard claims this shows the council is targeting ratepayers who “have no choice but to pay for services that they already paid for”.

Richard speaks on behalf of many fisherman friends who will be affected by this decision.

“I am a regular fisherman, mainly onshore now I have sold my boat but I go out with members of our local Pukehina Fishing Club Inc.

“Many of our members use most of the ramps from Whakatāne to the Mount.

“Our 25 boating members of about 135 members would use the ramps at least two to three times per month.

“This would mean there would be at least two adults on board, and we have a strong kids’ section so many times there would be kids on board,

“There are also about another 10 boaties on the beach that also use the ramps along with their families.”

Richard says the boat owners already have the cost of property rates, road and fuel tax plus GST.

“If the council thinks this idea is so great then we will have to start charging all those that use the cycleways that once again ratepayers already paid for and get little use nor brings in revenue.

“The cost to administer this and the cost to install and maintain the meters will eat up the input from the boaties,” Richard claims.

“While we are going down this line why no bring in pathway tax.”

In response, Tauranga City Council spaces and places manager Alison Law says these charges are necessary as money is needed for maintenance of the boat ramps.

“The ongoing maintenance of boat ramps includes water blasting, maintenance inspections, allowance for replacement of pontoon units, line marking, signage replacement, lighting repairs and sand removal.

“To help keep rates rises low, its important people pay their fair share towards maintaining the facilities and services they use the most, and many other councils in New Zealand have implemented a user-pays system for their boat ramps and/or boat ramp trailer parking.

“Also, visitors to Tauranga using the ramps are benefiting from these facilities without contributing to their cost.

“Where council considers there is a clearly identified relationship between users and the services provided, particularly with an immediate benefit, it will implement fees and charges for that activity.

“Charging user fees reflects the private benefit of an activity, and the use of fees and charges may be balanced with other funding sources which recognise a public benefit.

“We set our fees and charges annually to reflect increases in costs or changes to charging structures. As with all years, the community were actively consulted on as part of this process – including the establishment of boat ramp trailer parking user fees.”

The annual cost of maintenance and depreciation of the ramps is $233,691, according to a council report.

Commission chair Anne Tolley previously told Local Democracy Reporting: “The really critical thing is we’re doing this so that we can improve the quality and the quantity of our boat ramps and raise the finance to do that.”