This spring the city of Marathon, Florida decided to make pumpouts a very profitable business at the expense of the cruising and liveaboard community if you are not staying on the public mooring balls. Pumpouts via the city owned pump boat have risen to as much as $1.65/gallon depending on their guestimate (not measurement) of the gallons pumped. Diesel fuel in the area is $1.55. What's wrong with this picture? The city some years ago undertook a much needed cleanup of the harbor. This included removing a number of boats that had sunk in Boot Key Harbor, evicting some boat squatters and installing a mooring field which locals tell me was to discourage the squatters. Marathon also decided to clean the waste from the harbor and very commendably built a pumpout boat. They did this at least in part with a public grant justifying the boat and its size by doing a capacity count of all the marinas in the area in addition to the city owned mooring field. The process worked well and the pump boat was a one man show charging $5.00 per pumpout load. This spring the city politicians decided this would make a nice source of extra income, and began to charge as I said upwards of $1.65/gallon. Off loading the waste from the city boat only costs them sixteen cents per gallon. Not too bad!! Anyway, cruisers entering Boot Key should be advised they ought to pump out at the three mile limit before they get into the harbor, or stop by the city dock and avail them selves of the mandated $5.00 pumpout and forget the pumpout boat unless they are staying in the mooring field. For what ever logic, boats on a mooring ball get four free pumps per month at a cost of $150 complete and $5.00 per extra pumpout. I'm not sure why the latter is so cheap compared to what they charge folks who avail themselves of marina dock space. We certainly contribute more to the city coffers than the folks on a mooring ball. Marina fees alone reach $800-900/month and the city/county gets a hefty tax on top of that. Or maybe we should just all STAY AWAY from Marathon next season and let them get a taste of that. About ten of us did that in Key Largo when a marina there more than doubled their price and we put a bad hurt on their operation. Might work here too. Bob

Not sure what's going on here and whether it's the City of Marathon that's charging by the gallon or some private individual, but... here's some "poop" on pump-outs: The Federal govt. has provided grants of up to $50,000 (1/2 the cost of a pump-out system or $50K, whichever is less) to encourage more pump-out facilities in the Florida Keys National Marine Santuary. The City purchased their two pump-out boats as well as the City Marina's pump-out system using these grants. Along with this grant comes the stipulation that the recipient of the grant must provide a public pump-out facility and cannot charge more than $5.00 per pump-out, irrespective of the number of gallons pumped. This is where the $5.00 charge came from for the City's pump-out boats - they were purchased with a Fed'l grant. I'm on the board at Coco Plum Beach Yacht Club in Marathon and we also rec'd a $50K grant for installing our pumpout system, with a pump-out head at each of our 50 slips (the total cost of the system was in excess of $125,000). Sewage from our boats is pumped into a 1,900 gallon holding tank. We hire a local company to pump out our tank as needed. It costs us a minimum of 27.4 cents per gallon to have the waste pumped out of our tank and disposed of, and a maximum of 29.5 cents (depending on how many gallons are pumped each time). So, if we pump a 35 gallon holding tank for $5.00 at our public pump-out, we lose between $4.58 and $5.33 on each pump-out!!! After 5 years, we're allowed to charge what-ever we wish for pump-outs at out public pump-out station, but until then, it's fixed at $5.00. I haven't done a cost analysis of running a pump-out boat, but my guess is it could easily cost upwards of a $1.00 per gallon of sewage pumped by the time you pay for the boat, insurance, salary and benefits for the operator, fuel, maintenance, dockage, etc., etc., etc., plus the 27.4 cents to haul of the waste. Your post states that off-loading waste from the City boat only cost them 16 cents per gallon - the Port Manager, Harry DeLashmutt, stated in a public meeting last July that it cost them 25 cents per gallon... The City of Marathon web site states that pump-outs from their two boats are $5.00 each (http://www.ci.marathon.fl.us/marinapump.htm). Additionally, the City's web site for the City Marina states that pump-outs are $5.00 per pump-out at the marina (http://www.ci.marathon.fl.us/marinaserv.htm). You also state that slip rates at the City Marina reach $800-900/mo. The posted monthly rates for the marina are $15/ft winter, $11.75/ft. summer plus $30/month for 30 amp electric ($50/mo for 50 amp) & $30/mo. for air conditioning. So, a 40' boat would pay $660/mo for a slip including electric and air conditioning. All monthly slip rates include pump-outs, garbage, dinghy dockage, bicycle storage, showers, etc. To get up to $900/mo in the winter, you'd have to have 55' boat needing 50 amp service and having air conditioning. In the summer, you'd need a 70' boat to reach $900/mo. Rates are posted at http://www.ci.marathon.fl.us/marinadockding.htm. I'm not defending the City of Marathon and I don't understand the "as much as $1.65/gallon" you quote, I just want to provide the facts as posted by the City on their web site. Personally, I'd hate to see cruisers boycott Marathon as I think they are a valuable addition to the City's character and make a significant economic impact on local businesses. As listees are so fond of adding, YMMV! Ray B. m/v MOJO > This spring the city of Marathon, Florida decided to make pumpouts a very > profitable business at the expense of the cruising and liveaboard community if > you are not staying on the public mooring balls. Pumpouts via the city owned > pump boat have risen to as much as $1.65/gallon depending on their guestimate > (not measurement) of the gallons pumped. Diesel fuel in the area is $1.55. > What's wrong with this picture? > > The city some years ago undertook a much needed cleanup of the harbor. This > included removing a number of boats that had sunk in Boot Key Harbor, evicting > some boat squatters and installing a mooring field which locals tell me was to > discourage the squatters. Marathon also decided to clean the waste from the > harbor and very commendably built a pumpout boat. They did this at least in > part with a public grant justifying the boat and its size by doing a capacity > count of all the marinas in the area in addition to the city owned mooring > field. > > The process worked well and the pump boat was a one man show charging $5.00 > per pumpout load. This spring the city politicians decided this would make a > nice source of extra income, and began to charge as I said upwards of > $1.65/gallon. Off loading the waste from the city boat only costs them sixteen > cents per gallon. Not too bad!! > > Anyway, cruisers entering Boot Key should be advised they ought to pump out at > the three mile limit before they get into the harbor, or stop by the city dock > and avail them selves of the mandated $5.00 pumpout and forget the pumpout > boat unless they are staying in the mooring field. For what ever logic, boats > on a mooring ball get four free pumps per month at a cost of $150 complete and > $5.00 per extra pumpout. I'm not sure why the latter is so cheap compared to > what they charge folks who avail themselves of marina dock space. We certainly > contribute more to the city coffers than the folks on a mooring ball. Marina > fees alone reach $800-900/month and the city/county gets a hefty tax on top of > that. > > Or maybe we should just all STAY AWAY from Marathon next season and let them > get a taste of that. About ten of us did that in Key Largo when a marina there > more than doubled their price and we put a bad hurt on their operation. Might > work here too. >

Is the Marathon website up-to-date? Ron Rogers

You know, I always found it odd that Milk cost more per gallon then fuel (Here in the US at least..). Now, this bring a whole new light into that view :-) -al- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Kassal" <bkboater@worldnet.att.net> To: <trawler-world-list@lists.samurai.com> Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 1:36 PM Subject: TWL: Pump out ripoff in Marathon This spring the city of Marathon, Florida decided to make pumpouts a very profitable business at the expense of the cruising and liveaboard community if you are not staying on the public mooring balls. Pumpouts via the city owned pump boat have risen to as much as $1.65/gallon depending on their guestimate (not measurement) of the gallons pumped. Diesel fuel in the area is $1.55. What's wrong with this picture?