Marshfield's Select Board reviewed a sweeping proposal Monday to raise a dozen town license fees for the first time in over a decade, a change town officials estimate would bring in an additional $32,723 a year.
Administrative Assistant Chelsea DaCosta presented the plan during the board's August 3 meeting, walking members through fee comparisons with neighboring towns including Scituate, Norwell, Weymouth and Cohasset.
"It has been at least 10, 15 years since we've increased our fees," DaCosta told the board.
Under the proposal, the town's annual common victualer license fee would rise from $25 to $50, bringing in roughly $1,600 a year instead of the $800 currently collected from the town's 33 license holders. Peddler's licenses would climb from $100 to $150 and fortune teller licenses from $2 to $50, together adding nearly $3,000 in annual revenue.
The largest share of the proposed increase comes from alcohol licenses. Marshfield currently collects about $64,850 a year from 46 liquor licenses, and the proposed plan would raise most of those fees by $500 apiece, with a smaller $100 increase for veterans' club licenses. That change alone would generate an estimated $27,150 in additional revenue, bringing total alcohol licensing income to about $92,000 annually.
DaCosta also proposed phasing in an increase to the town's commercial parking license fee, charged to residents near the Marshfield Fairgrounds, from $1 to $2 per spot over four years. She recommended eliminating the fairground common victualer fee altogether, arguing the $10-per-booth charge brings in too little to justify the work involved in administering it.
"I could not find record of any town charging fees like this," DaCosta said, citing Brockton and Kingston as comparable towns with fairs of their own. "I believe that the amount of time, effort and collaboration outweighs any fee we collect currently."
Board members praised the presentation and pressed DaCosta on some of the specifics. Chair Rick Smith asked whether other South Shore towns charge similar commercial parking fees.
"I couldn't really find any other towns that charged for commercial parking," DaCosta said. "I think Marshfield is pretty unique in that pack."
Smith noted the fee is meant to offset the impact on residents who live near the fairgrounds during major events, and asked DaCosta to research how the charge compares with the revenue those parking spots generate for the people renting them out.
Vice Chair Eric Kelley asked DaCosta to confirm the commercial parking fees applied specifically to properties near the fairgrounds rather than to residential parking generally, which DaCosta confirmed, noting the fee excludes nonprofit users such as the Marshfield Fair's own operations. DaCosta said she would look further into the commercial parking comparison Smith raised. The board took no vote on the fee proposal Monday, and no date was set for a follow-up vote.