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A new yacht club has been formed at Bucksport’s municipally owned marina by customers who want to maintain and promote it as the town faces financial challenges that put the marina’s future ownership in question.
The 50-slip marina at the downtown waterfront, overlooking the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Fort Knox, has been owned by the town for about a decade. Officials have said they’ll likely discuss potentially leasing or selling it next year among other cost-cutting changes.
The new club aims to collect information about the financial benefits boaters bring to area businesses and to take on projects to care for the marina, according to club leader Ian Dickey. He sees it as a case of community members taking initiative and leading by example to help their town as Maine municipalities stare down rising costs and difficult decisions.
“We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem,” he said.
Last summer, an audit revealed Bucksport had spent millions in savings that had helped cushion taxpayers from the 2014 closure of the Verso paper mill, which for decades was the town’s dominant property taxpayer.
Additional challenges in this year’s budget included an increased state valuation that reduced revenue sharing and the correction of budgeting practices that had obscured spending for years, according to town manager Jacob Gran, who has held the role for about a year.
Bucksport’s elected town councilors pursued structural cuts this year in an effort to create long-lasting savings, including eliminating seasonal waterfront positions. They did not change marina operations, but may look at selling it, leasing it or changing how it’s categorized in the town budget.
It currently makes a small profit most years. But councilors worried about costs if large capital expenses arose, especially with extreme storms predicted to increase, and noted its auditor has flagged the marina account twice.
Harbormaster Mike Ormsby has countered that the marina struggled under private ownership, and expensive floats that were recently replaced should last for decades.
All of the permanent slips are waitlisted, he said, and big improvements have been made. It will need electrical work in the coming years.
“Things are looking … pretty good, and the people here seem to be happy with it,” he said Friday.
The marina and its location makes it a uniquely positioned “gem,” said Dickey, a Bangor resident who’s been boating there since 2010.
It’s faster to reach the ocean from Bucksport than it is to travel downriver from Bangor, and Bucksport is an easy boating distance to destinations like Belfast, Castine and Fort Point.
Boaters also can tie up to floats to access marina services, rather than coming in from moorings, with businesses and supplies close by. A yacht club membership card that offers 10% discounts at local restaurants and stores is one way the club aims to collect data about their impact.
Yacht clubs are primarily social groups, Dickey said. But hearing about Bucksport’s financial challenges last year spurred his interest in organizing to help the town.
As a group, members can pursue grant funding and contribute to upkeep themselves.
So far, they are repainting the gangway, trimming weeds, adding hanging baskets and pressure-washing the floating docks.
The aging marina building itself needs new siding, a potentially significant expense raised in council meetings. But yacht club members may be able to take on the project, Dickey said, and its diverse membership includes people who work in the trades with relevant experience.
The club can also apply for grants or advocate for local waterfront projects, he said.
As one example, the public landing across the river on Verona Island doesn’t have a place for people to tie up their boats while owners park their trailers, which Dickey believes limits its use. Two pilings and a dock could attract more.
“There’s quite a lot of opportunity,” he said.
If the town did sell or lease the marina, his group would support whoever ran it, he said.
But it’s hard for him to imagine the marina being attractive to a private operator at its current size – a point the harbormaster agrees with – and additional development could bring in more activity than residents may want.
For now, yacht club members want to maintain the site to continue drawing people, not just boaters, to an attractive waterfront – and avoid a situation where panicked cuts create a downward spiral that ultimately hurts the town, Dickey said.
The club plans to hold its first formal meeting on Friday, June 5, but so far is off to a “great start,” according to Dickey. More than half of marina members have already joined; others haven’t arrived for the season yet.
“I think in the current state our country is in, we have to become more community-minded and try to help things and fix things,” he said.
