McCall looks to hike boat ramp fees—if you don’t live in Idaho

Drew Dodson - Valley Lookout Editor March 5, 2025 - 12:20 pm Out-of-state residents would pay twice as much to launch boats on Payette Lake under a proposal being considered by the McCall City Council. A proposal for updated boat ramp fees would keep day passes for Idaho residents at $15, while residents of other states would pay $30. Season passes would be available for $100 for Idaho residents or $300 for non-residents. The fees would be in place from Memorial Day through Oct. 1. The council supported the proposal during a work session last week and is expected to adopt the fees at a future meeting. A separate fee would be charged for commercial businesses that use the boat ramp, but specifics are still being developed for that, McCall Parks and Recreation Director Kurt Wolf said. Second year of ramp fees Last summer marked the first in which the city charged fees for use of its boat ramp at the north end of Legacy Park near Mile High Marina. The only other public boat ramp on Payette Lake is in Ponderosa State Park. The fees, which earned about $16,000 after taking effect July 12, charged all users $15 for a day pass and $100 for a season pass. The fees could be paid through a fee box or a QR code available at the boat ramp. Boaters could also pay online before launching or through a hotline phone number. Meanwhile, commercial businesses that launch rental boats and jet skis on the lake paid $1,000 for a season pass, plus $7.50 per trailer launch between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. The fees were adopted to provide funding for boat ramp maintenance, water quality studies, and potential future staffing of the ramp during peak periods by city employees. “It’s likely we’re going to need to hire some boating ambassadors down there, not necessarily to make sure everybody’s paying their fees, but more just to help direct traffic, to keep things flowing, to educate boaters, to point them in the right direction, really, just to keep things moving during peak hours,” Wolf said. Drew Cheap Thrills: fees too costly The boat ramp fees led Cheap Thrills Rentals in McCall to pivot away from a jet ski rental service the company has offered on Legacy Beach since 2008 through a concessionaire agreement with the city. Cheap Thrills owner Rachael Ikola told Valley Lookout that it “no longer penciled” to pay the $10,000 per year for the beach space, the additional costs associated with staffing the beach, and the new boat ramp fees. “We just decided to sell our jet skis because it wasn’t worth it,” Ikola said. “So we don’t have a need for the beach anymore.” The concession agreement with the city required Cheap Thrills to hire employees to staff Legacy Beach to help customers who rented the jet skis. The company was also held to other rules that do not apply to commercial operators that launch using the boat ramp. “We just thought that the concession agreement was more of a hindrance than it was a good thing,” she said. “If I don’t have that lease agreement, my employees don’t have to be in uniforms, I don’t have to have logos on my company trucks, and I can use every spot in the parking lot I want and come and go as I please.” The absence of Cheap Thrills leaves Payette Pedal Party as the only commercial business subject to a concession agreement this summer. The agreement nets the city 3% of total sales, or about $1,000, and entitles the company to launch its pedal boats from Art Roberts Park, Wolf said. Partnership to be missed Wolf told council members that the presence of Cheap Thrills was beneficial to the city in past years. “Historically, these concessions have really assisted our department,” he said. “It’s kind of an ambassador program, having eyes and ears on site.” Wolf recommended continuing this summer without a Legacy Beach concession, but seeking proposals from other commercial businesses for future summers. “As a rec department, we’re only gonna be able to provide so much,” he said. “A lot of these concessions are unique and otherwise unachievable for the department to do internally.” Council members were not receptive to specifically seeking out leases for commercial operations in the park. “Legacy Park is an absolute centerpiece of our town,” council member Mike Maciaszek said. “Having a commercial operation take up space there and remove space for the general public is not the direction that we should go.”