After getting preferential treatment for 55 years, Burnaby residents could face a 280 per cent fee increase to use Port Moody’s Rocky Point Park boat launch.
Burnaby residents have enjoyed a discount on the boat launch’s annual pass by paying Port Moody resident prices since 1965, when the City of Burnaby chipped in $27,696 (almost $260,000 in 2023 currency) to help pay to build the ramp.
Now, Port Moody Mayor Meghan Lahti has put the City of Burnaby on notice that as of Jan. 1, 2024, Burnaby residents will have to pay non-resident prices for an annual pass.
Burnaby residents currently pay the resident rate of $177.75 for a yearly pass. Next year, the non-resident pass, which Burnaby residents would pay, is proposed to cost $500. The resident pass would cost $285.
The cost for day passes would also increase from $25 to $40 next year and then go up by $5 increments to $55 by 2027.
Lahti said the fee hike, calculated on a 100 per cent “user pay model,” comes after “significant” cost increases to operate and maintain the boat launch.
Port Moody is now required to “dispose of dredgeate materials through upland disposal and not ocean disposal as was previously allowed.” It means industrial pollutants found in the Burrard Inlet’s sediment can’t just be dumped in deeper water but must be transported to specialized facilities.
It cost Port Moody $750,000 to do the upland disposal this year, triple the amount originally budgeted.
Burnaby-Port Moody relationship
From 1968 to 1984, the two cities jointly controlled, managed and operated the boat ramp.
In 1984, Port Moody took full responsibility for ramp maintenance and costs, according to Lahti. Burnaby left Port Moody with a “small amount of funding” for future maintenance work, for which Port Moody thanked Burnaby and agreed “Burnaby residents would be treated the same way as Port Moody residents with respect to the ‘privilege and cost of using the ramp.’”
Lahti said the decision isn’t a reflection of “any dissatisfaction” with Burnaby’s commitment to regional reciprocity.
“I am sure you can appreciate that (Port Moody), like Burnaby, is trying to financially and practically transition to the new normal and the cost of doing business in this inflationary and uncertain economy, while continuing to provide critical and uninterrupted services,” said Lahti.
– with files from Mario Bartel, Tri-City News
