The borough continues looking for how it can better recover its costs for disposing of derelict boats left in the harbor or on harbor property, and is now considering an ordinance that would allow it to place a lien on other property owned by delinquent boat owners.

“You can wait 50 years and never get paid,” Harbormaster Steve Miller told port commissioners at their meeting Thursday, June 4. Some people simply refuse to pay, he said.

“It’s another attention grabber for people not paying their bill.”

A lien could block the sale of property until the debt is resolved.

The debt can include delinquent stall fees, along with the disposal costs.

Owners often have “owned the boat for decades and don’t want to let go,” Port Commissioner Chris Buness said of the problem facing harbors staff that needs to enforce the rules to remove delinquent and unsafe boats.

Harbor staff scrapped about half a dozen boats, mostly fiberglass, this past winter, Miller told commissioners, adding, “We still have more to go.”

The average cost runs between $5,000 and $7,000 each, he said, though larger boats can cost substantially more, particularly if a boat is submerged and there are cleanup costs.

Freight costs an additional $2,000 each or so to ship a crushed boat to a landfill in eastern Washington state. After crushing, workers can cram as many as four boats in a container going to the landfill.

Port commissioners reviewed the proposed change in municipal code and supported the provision for a lien but decided the ordinance needed more work before they could recommend approval by the borough assembly.

Specifically, they want to see an actual deadline — a set number of days — before the borough could put a lien on a boat owner’s other property, such as a home or real estate, rather than the “reasonable notice” provision in the draft ordinance.

The ordinance would “impose personal liability on vessel owners … for costs incurred during impoundment, storage, removal, sale, destruction or disposal of vessels.” And, when necessary, it would allow the borough “to place liens against real property owned by responsible parties to secure unpaid costs.”

In his report to the port commission, Miller explained the ordinance “would provide an additional enforcement and cost-recovery mechanism to help protect harbor users and borough taxpayers from bearing the financial burden associated with abandoned or derelict vessels.”

“I think this is a good tool,” said Port Commission Chair John Yeager.

The commission will bring up the ordinance again at a later meeting after the borough attorney considers the request to add a deadline for a boat owner to contest a lien.