Rafters enjoy a run through the Upper Ocoee at the 1996 Olympics site.BENTON, Tenn. – Polk County commissioners and the Ocoee River Outfitters Association reached an agreement Monday night on a plan to collect rafting fees.
The county is seeking to offset the costs of fire and rescue, ambulance, law enforcement and sanitation services it provides the Ocoee rafting industry.
The commissioners and outfitters addressed concerns over how best to calculate and audit rafting industry costs to the county. Ultimately, it came down to procedures and transparency.
“The methods we’re talking about make sense,” said Keith Jenkins, president of the Ocoee River Outfitters Association.
The county seeks to revive the pursuit of rafting fees through a new amendment to its Private Act of 1981, which has been subjected to a number of legal contests and changes over the decades.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled against the act in 2008, declaring that it violated the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, which prohibits the taxing of watercraft on navigable waters under federal jurisdiction. At the time, the Private Act assessed a $2.50 per ticket tax on rafting.
The Maritime Act, however, does allow exceptions for “reasonable fees charged on a fair and equitable basis” which “are used solely to pay the cost of a service to the vessel or water craft; enhance the safety and efficiency of interstate and foreign commerce; and do not impose more than a small burden on interstate or foreign commerce.”
The amended Private Act will base the rafting fee on data gathered and calculated each year, utilizing department costs and rafting customer numbers. It applies the prior year’s per-customer cost to determine the per-ticket fee for the current year. Furthermore, the state has placed a cap of 50 cents on the fee.
Commissioner John Pippenger advised that a 2009 analysis calculated a fee of 18 to 21 cents per rafting ticket as an example.
The commissioners agreed to report the newly calculated fee to the outfitters each January, giving them time to account for changes in costs before the launch of rafting season.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. E-mail him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com