By Ted Hayes

Select board members threw the harbormaster’s office a financial lifeline Monday when they unanimously approved a host of boating fee increases that harbormaster Bill Chace said are long overdue, and much needed.

With Manuel Soares Jr. absent, board members all supported Chace and deputy harbormaster Richard Smith’s proposal to increase nearly every fee charged to boat owners, and institute a new fee that will only impact out-of-town boat owners.

Numbers presented by Chace and Smith suggest that the increases will result in about $92,000 per year in additional collections, all of which will go into the department’s waterways enterprise to fund water-related initiatives.

Of that total, approximately $63,000 would be paid by the new out-of-town fee.

“We are well below the c

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