Kimmswick voters will be asked April 4 to approve a landing fee that would be charged to boat owners who dock along the Mississippi River in the city limits.
If approved, the fee would cost up to $1.30 per linear foot of the longest side of any boat, ship or vessel that docks along the river within the city limits.
However, the fee won’t affect any vessel that has a home port in Kimmswick, which means the historic Delta Queen steamboat would not have to pay the fee if it begins operations in the city, Mayor Phil Stang said.
A plan is underway to build a docking area along the Mississippi River in Kimmswick where the Delta Queen would have its home port and offer cruises.
“We’re moving forward, slowly but surely, for the Delta Queen to be here,” Stang said. “It (work to build the docking area) will begin very soon.”
He said the city is working with Jefferson County and the Jefferson County Port Authority, as well as the Missouri Department of Transportation, to develop a plan for the docking area, road to it and other infrastructure for it, which makes it a complex and time-consuming process.
If and when the docking area is built, though, it would be large enough for other boats to dock there as well, and when the Delta Queen is out on an excursion, the space where it normally docks would be available, Stang said.
“This (the landing fee) is for when we’re done with construction on the riverfront,” he said. “If the Delta Queen is here, others (boats) may start coming, so it’s aimed at those other commercially operated boats that may come.”
Stang said the landing fee is designed to bring in much-needed revenue for Kimmswick, which currently relies on funds from its annual festivals to cover costs to operate the city.
The revenue from the festivals provides 75 to 80 percent of the city’s operating funds. The rest is generated by a 1 1/2 percent sales tax, with 1 percent dedicated to the general fund and the remainder used for street maintenance, he said.
Stang said the city needs more money to better address flooding issues, as well as to improve infrastructure.
“It (the proposed landing fee on the ballot) is a very important source of revenue to the city of Kimmswick,” he said.
Last November, Kimmswick voters approved Proposition M, agreeing to allow the city to collect a business license fee from for-profit museums.
That fee will allow the city to collect up to 3 percent of gross receipts that museums make from admission fees, as well as fees charged for tours, bookings, exhibitions and other business operations.
“Because it’s a historic boat, a museum, we’ll get money from that,” Stang said.