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Going fishing or skiing at a county park in Pinellas County? Starting Monday, bring your wallet.
Parks officials plan to begin charging boaters $5 to park their trailers in eight county parks with boat ramps. Or, if boaters prefer, they can pay $100 for an annual parking pass.
County commissioners voted last September to create the fee. If everyone pays, the fees would raise an estimated $850,000 a year to be used to support the county's park system.
Not surprisingly, reaction is mixed.
"We've been getting some responses that were negative," said Liz Warren, the county's director of culture, education and leisure. "Once we explained to individuals that we were putting the money back into the park department, I think people are more okay with that."
At A.L. Anderson Park in Tarpon Springs, a group of bass fishermen getting ready for their regular Tuesday evening tournament on Lake Tarpon uniformly criticized the fee.
"We already pay taxes for this, don't we?" said Darrell Paquin, 45, of Clearwater. "I don't think it's necessary, really."
Personal watercraft users didn't like the fee, either.
"Our taxes pay for the county parks," said Doreen Antonio, 45, of Palm Harbor. "A county park is a county park. You should be able to use all of the facilities here because we pay for them through our taxes."
Not everyone, however, complained.
At the Belleair Boat Ramp Park Tuesday, commercial fisherman Bob Blomberg of Clearwater said he favored the fee.
"It might weed out some traffic here, which would be a blessing because I use this as a working place," said Blomberg, who uses the ramp three days a week. "When you are going boating, $5 isn't a big deal unless you are a sailboater."
Blomberg said he would like to see some of the money used for, among other things, keeping restrooms open after hours and creating an area for cleaning fish.
Parks officials have posted signs saying that the fee will be collected and will put up bright yellow mailbox-shaped drop boxes where boaters can drop their money. The boxes will have a card that they can display on their dashboard showing they've paid.
At first, at least, the fees will be collected on the honor system.
The county is not adding any employees to monitor collections, but rangers will do spot checks and place reminders on vehicles whose owners don't comply.
The fees are only for people who bring vessels on trailers to county parks. Someone who brought a canoe or kayak strapped to the roof of his car would not have to pay the fee.
Officials hope people pay. If not, then officials could have to consider other options. One could be to hire a vendor who would install gates at parking lot entrances.
With 55,000 boaters in Pinellas County, officials say the demand for access to the water is great.
On a typical weekend, a couple of hundred boat trailers can be parked at Fort De Soto. On a holiday weekend, like Memorial Day, the number of trailers can reach 500 or 600, with many boaters coming from Hillsborough and Manatee counties.
"Our boat ramp is probably the busiest boat ramp in three counties," said Jim Wilson, a parks supervisor who works at Fort De Soto. "It's heavily used."
WHERE YOU'LL PAY The eight Pinellas County parks where boaters will have to pay to park their trailers are:A.L. Anderson Park, 39699 U.S. 19 N, Tarpon Springs
Belleair Boat Ramp Park, 3900 W Bay Drive, Belleair Bluffs
Fort De Soto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S, Tierra Verde
John Chesnut Sr. Park, 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor
Lake Seminole Park, 10015 Park Boulevard, Seminole
Park Boulevard Boat Ramp Park, 18651 Gulf Blvd., Indian Shores
Philippe Park, 2525 Philippe Parkway, Safety Harbor
War Veterans' Memorial Park, 9600 Bay Pines Blvd., St. Petersburg