{"id":441008,"date":"2026-10-29T00:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/441008\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T00:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:34:14","slug":"gulfport-marina-commercial-slip-prices-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/441008\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulfport Marina commercial slip prices rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 People who rent slips at the Gulfport Municipal Marina will soon see their rates go up by as much as $700 a month!<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely challenging to try and wrap my head around it,” said Jonathon Ross, a charter captain in Gulfport.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ross operates a boat charter out of the Gulfport Municipal Marina \u2026 and said he may be moving his business if slip fees increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of the businesses are trying to figure out what their next move is going to be. Are they going to stomach it and just swallow the pill, or are they just going to try to relocate to other marinas that are offering a lot more in exchange for these expensive rates?\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n

The City of Gulfport voted to increase slip rental fees for everyone back in September \u2026 but most recently, the city also voted to add on a commercial slip surcharge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Starting Feb. 1, 2027, a six-pack charter boat could see a $200 monthly fee, with that surcharge increasing to $400 a month starting in August.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a nightmare,” said Ross.<\/p>\n

“It just seems a bit extreme, its a 100% markup for us,” said Scott Hutsko, another charter captain.<\/p>\n

Hutsko said it\u2019s something that many charter boat owners can\u2019t afford and he\u2019s considering moving marinas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are already eating five-, six-dollar gas prices and trying not to raise prices for that. Adding this on top of that a month for a small business guy like me and some of the other charters is going to put us out of business,\u201d Hutsko said.<\/p>\n

City leaders said the increase is needed to make updates to the marina, cover post hurricane costs, and to proactively offset the possible impacts of amendment three if it passes.<\/p>\n

Randel Dunham lives in Gulfport and wonders why the charter captains need to pay for these impacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at all these slips here that people pay monthly for, and the ship store, and the millions of dollars they sell in fuel a year, and they have no money?\u201d Dunham said.<\/p>\n

He also says tourism will suffer if charter captains decide to move to another marina.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way they know there\u2019s a marina here is because they found Sandy Toes Boat Charters on Google Search and came to this marina, and they had no idea that this marina was tucked away in the corner of Gulfport,\u201d Dunham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI run about 400 charters a year, and during that time, anywhere from two to six people on board. That\u2019s quite a few people who have never heard of Gulfport before,\u201d Hutsko said.<\/p>\n

Captain Hutsko hopes the city and commercial boaters can come up with a better solution.<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping we can still bring people back to the city from here and find a way to make this work,” he said.<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Casey

Casey Albritton is dedicated to telling your stories throughout South Pinellas County. From St. Petersburg to Largo, she\u2019s there to share the triumphs and struggles of the community she calls home. So, let Casey know about the stories that matter to you.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pasco County mom of 5 takes in 3 children left without food or power whose mother faces neglect charges<\/p>\n

Jasmine Young, a mother of 5, opened her home to three neglected girls as their mother faces child neglect charges for leaving them without food, power or water.<\/p>\n

Pasco County mom of 5 takes in 3 children whose mother faces neglect charges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 People who rent slips at the Gulfport Municipal Marina will soon see their rates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1890,36108,6025,6110,20832,596,107032,172100,202,204,203,199,201,200,5910,3670],"class_list":["post-441008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-boat","tag-charter","tag-cost","tag-gulfport","tag-marina","tag-pinellas-county","tag-pinellas-news","tag-slip","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}