Comments on Berkeley Marina's Proposed Dock Box Charge

The problem with the Marina's proposal to charge a flat fee for the dock box is that it's extremely anti-progressive. The flat $5.00 monthly fee amounts to a rate increase of $0.25 for a 20 ft berth, but only $0.17 for a 30 ft berth and $0.12 for a 40 ft. berth.

But the rate structure proposed by the Marina only increments the rate by $0.10 from 20 ft to 40 ft! And the new charge for unmetered power is also a flat rate. The result is that the rate increase for a 20 ft boat with a dock box is two cents more than the rate increase for a 40 ft boat with a dock box.

With a large number of vacancies in 20 ft berths, and a long waiting list for 30-45 ft boats, this policy seems to make little sense.

It can be argued that all dock boxes are the same and should rent for the same amount of money. But there are other elements of each berth that have the same status but don't incur a flat fee. We don't charge a fixed amount for dock cleats, or for billing overhead. If we're going to tack on fixed fees, we need to consider the overall effect on the rate structure and apply a much more strongly progressive incremental base rate in order to compensate.