Over the years that Harbormaster Gregg Marsili was shepherding the Town Marina through development and construction, he was clear that there was another main goal, besides providing a much needed community resource. It was always the plan that the costs of debt service to the Marina would be passed along to its actual users, and not taxpayers in general.

“We want to make sure that the Marina is not a burden on the taxpayer,” he said, on several occasions.

Now, with the numbers in from the 2023 summer season, it appears that goal is coming to fruition. So far, the Marina has brought in $128,200.63 in transient boating fees, exceeding the projected income of $125,000. Note that the fiscal year doesn’t end until the end of June, so Marsili anticipates that number will grow further.

“We will get a few early reservations in April and May,” he said. “Last year we made an additional $10,000 from Jan 1 to the end of the fiscal year.”
Likewise, the projected income from the fuel dock was $100,000; Marsili reports net proceeds of $111,424.98 so far.

“It’s going really well,” he said. “It’s slow this time of year but we are still selling fuel through the winter to municipal, commercial and Coast Guard vessels. And that will just go up when a lot of fishermen who take the winter off get back on the water in April and May.”

In addition to to better-than-projected income, increased dockage fees in several categories, passed by the Town Council this fall, will bring in about another $35,000, though those increases are not counted among the annual projections. They were designed to keep up with inflation, including the cost of salaries and building and maintenance supplies, which have all gone up.

Marsili says that his office is holding steady on the projections for next year.

“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves until we have 4 or 5 years in the books, but we are very much on track to reach our goal of being self-sustaining,” he said.