COURTESY PHOTO | Boaters enjoy a day in the Peconic Bay.

Southold Town’s mooring fees are due for a steep increase this year for the first time in more than 30 years, after the town trustees voted in November to adopt set fees for different ranges of boat lengths, instead of the per-foot fees they’d been using for years.

This year, permits for stake and pulley systems for boats up to 18 feet will be $150, up from $2.50 per foot, an increase that for some small boat owners will be exponentially greater than what they’d paid in the past.

Previously, the per-foot price to moor a boat in Southold’s creeks went up on a graduated basis as the boat size increased. For example, owners of boats between 20 and 25 feet paid $5 per foot, while the fee for boats between 25 and 30 feet was $6.25. The fee per foot increased by $1.25 per foot for every foot between 30 and 35 feet. No boats longer than 35 feet may be moored in Southold’s creeks.

Using those calculations, the owner of a 24-foot boat would pay $120 per year for a mooring.

Under the new regulations, mooring fees will be $200 for boats up to and inclusive of 19 feet, $400 for boats between 20 and 27 feet and $600 for boats from 28 to 35 feet long.

What do you think? Tell us in a comment below or send us a letter to the editor.

For reaction and to view mooring rates in neighboring towns, read Thursday’s issue of The Suffolk Times.

byoung@timesreview.com