Budget-bill increases take effect Oct. 1 to pay for coastal inlet dredging
Sportsmen who visit a wildlife cooperator agent to renew the registration on their watercraft will get a big shock to their wallets. The fee for registering and titling boats and other watercraft more than doubled, effective Oct. 1, thanks to legislation passed in late July as part of the state’s 2013-14 budget bill, intended to help pay for dredging of shallow-draft inlets along the North Carolina coast.
All boat owners who paid $15 for a one-year registration, $40 for a three-year registration and $20 for a new boat title will find their fees increased in all three categories – doubled in most occasions.
As of Oct. 1, owners of watercraft less than 26 feet will pay $30 for a one-year registration, $90 for a three-year registration and $30 for a new title. Owners of watercraft 26 feet or longer will pay $50 for a one-year registration, $150 for a three-year registration and $90 for a new title.
With federal funding for inlet dredging reduced and now falling on the state and local governments, the Republican-controlled state legislature created as part of the state budget the “Shallow Draft Navigation Channel and Lake Dredging Fund,” with monies collected by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission for boat registrations going to that fund.
In addition, the legislature has ordered the Commission to use one-sixth of one-percent of the money it receives from taxes on motor fuel to go to inlet dredging.
The legislature’s allocations in 2013-14 for the inlet-dredging fund are $2,280,350, while the 2014-15 goal is $2,193,500.
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