Last week the Avalon City Council unanimously adopted new wharfage fees for cruise ships that visit Catalina Island. The new rate of $7.50 per passenger aboard each cruise ship will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
The council also ended the marketing incentive in the Municipal Code that returned 50% of wharfage fees collected for a second ship that visited Catalina at least 50 times a year.
“No cruise line has been eligible for this incentive since 2019 and no cruise line will be eligible based on the current approved schedule of arrivals,” according to the staff report by Finance Director Matthew Baker.
This was a Consent Calendar item. Consent items are voted on collectively, without discussion, unless a council member pulls an item for further discussion.
Nothing was pulled from last week’s Consent Calendar.
The City Council unanimously introduced the ordinance to change wharfage fees at the Sept. 3 council meeting.
Background
“At the June 4, 2024 City Council Meeting, City Staff recommended increasing the cruise ship wharfage rate to $7.00 per passenger beginning July 1, 2025,” according to Baker’s report.
“City Council provided City Staff with direction to bring back an ordinance with the proposed increase to the cruise ship wharfage rate supported by a rate analysis,” Baker wrote.
“City Staff prepared an analysis of its operations to determine the per passenger cruise ship wharfage fee that would adequately reimburse the City’s Harbor Fund on a cost-based and proportional basis,” Baker wrote.
“As a result of the analysis, City Staff determined that the current cruise ship wharfage rate of $5.00 per passenger should be increased by $2.50 per passenger in order to recover cruise ship visitors’ share of capital expenditures in the harbor.
“The proposed increase would generate an additional $900 thousand annually to fund maintenance of existing facilities and capital improvements. Based on prior discussions with cruise operators, City Staff proposes implementing the wharfage increase effective January 1, 2026 to provide operators with adequate notice in consideration for existing bookings under the current rate.
“Effective January 1, 2026, City Staff is proposing to charge all cruise ships calling upon Avalon 100% of the manifest for cruise ship passengers, minus any crew, at the rate of $7.50 per passenger,” Baker wrote.
“Effective thirty (30) days after the adoption of the ordinance, the City will no longer offer as a marketing incentive an amount equal to 50% of wharfage fees collected from a second ship from the same cruise line who calls upon Avalon fifty (50) calls or more a year,” Baker wrote.
“City Staff further recommends conducting a review of use rates on a periodic basis to ensure the Harbor Fund is reimbursed by its users on a cost-based and proportional basis,” Baker wrote.
