File photo
Lake Robinson offers a large and small shelter and boat docks for the popular and pristine lake with scenic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.
File Photo
Kaykers can be seen regularly on the lake with its calm waters favorable to all varieties of small craft boating and fishing.
Fees more than double and often triple their current charges for lake permits and shelter rentals on Lake Robinson and Lake Cunningham.
Annual residential boat permits jump to $55 from the current $30 and daily boat permits soar from $3 to $20. Duck hunting permits triple to $30 seasonally and larger shelter rentals will cost residents $150 per day, triple what they are charged, $50, now.
The shelter fees are effective Oct. 1 and boat fees go into effect Jan. 1, 2015 because they run on an annual basis.
Chuck Reynolds, Finance Manager for CPW, presented the new fee schedule. “Current rates recover about 18.3 percent of costs to operate the lakes and parks and to provide necessary security with these activities,” Reynolds stated from his report.
Rates were set in 1986 and updated in 2004, according to CPW’s presentation. Daily resident/non-resident boat fees, $3 and $4 respectively, haven’t increased in 28 years.
“I think we’re probably long overdue raising rates,” commissioner Eugene Gibson said. Commissioners Jeff Howell and Perry Williams also agreed with Gibson.
“You couldn’t ask for a more picturesque view on Lake Robinson,” Jeffrey Tuttle, Greer CPW General Manager, said. “We have some beautiful assets. We are trying to shift some of the costs to the usage of the lakes.”
Since 2008 usage of the lake and shelters steadily declined from a 3,156 average rentals and permits annually to its present low of 3,031 in 2013. The past 10-year average was 3,053 permits/rentals annually.
CPW reported the cost per warden activity is $318,000 a year broken down as: lakes security $72,913, parks security $86,245, parks maintenance $75,694 and system security $83,885.
Lake and Shelter permits
Annual Boat Permit (effective 1/1/2015)
|
|
1/1/1986 Original Rates |
1/1/2004 Current Rates |
Approved Rates
|
|
Resident |
$20 |
$30 |
$55 |
|
Non-Resident |
$30 |
$40 |
$65 |
|
Out of State |
$40 |
$50 |
$110 |
Daily Boat Permit (effective 1/1/2015)
Seasonal Duck Hunting Permit
|
|
$10 |
$10 |
$30 |
Annual Fishing Permit
|
Resident |
$5 |
$5 |
$5 |
|
Out of State |
$6 |
$6 |
$15 |
Shelter Rental (effective Oct. 1)
|
Shelter #1 (Lake Robinson) |
$30 |
$50 |
$150 |
|
Shelter #2 (Lake Robinson) |
$20 |
$30 |
$75 |
|
Shelter #3 (Lake Cunningham) |
– |
$30 |
$75 |
Source: Greer Commission of Public Works