Some boaters might be hauling a different load next boating season, at least in their wallets.

Kootenai County is reconsidering boating related fees, with the possibility of lowering charges for commercial users and creating a new fee for a popular free activity.

"We're very much in favor of user fees," said Jim Aucutt, chair of the county Waterways Advisory Board. "People need to pay for what they're using."

Like overnight mooring, he said.

At a meeting this week, the board agreed to recommend the county commissioners start charging boaters to tie up for the night at county docks.

Aucutt believes the fee, which the board is suggesting to be $8 a night and $40 annually, would mostly affect large vessel owners who often bunk for the night at public facilities but pay nothing to do so.

"The only ones who do that are people with boats large enough to sleep there," Aucutt said. "Small boaters can handle fees to launch their boats. The larger boaters don't launch, they stay on the lake all the time and don't pay nothing."

Overnight mooring goes on "quite a bit," he added.

"It's just a way to recreate, to go out for the weekend and spend the night at a facility and cruise the lake," he said.

The fee would help fund maintenance and construction of waterways facilities, Aucutt said, adding that the state and the city of Coeur d'Alene have overnight mooring fees.

Such a fee wouldn't apply to all 20 of the county's public docks, he added.

"Only where moorage applies," Aucutt said. "Harrison is our biggest user. But Mica Bay boat launch, it's not appropriate for mooring, so we wouldn't even have it there."

Commissioner Dan Green said he agrees with the idea.

"The cost is being borne by everybody in the county," he said of folks who use the county docks overnight. "I think it should be paid for by the people who actually use them."

Commissioner Todd Tondee said he had no issue with creating the fee.

"Those fees would go into repairing and upkeep and replacing those docks," he said. "I think it's a good use of people who are using it to pay for it."

Spokespeople for Yacht Club Sales and Service on Lake Coeur d'Alene cold not be reached for comment on how the boating public might react.

The advisory board is also looking at reducing fees to use public launches for commercial purposes, Aucutt said.

Board members have been in discussion with barge and dock-construction businesses about the pressures the fees create in the tough economy, he said.

"They've just questioned the amount, and wondered with the economy if we could consider lowering them, and we said we could," Aucutt said, adding that the board is still weighing how much the fees could drop.

Fees currently vary per project, he added.

Smaller businesses like North Idaho Maritime have trouble affording the commercial use fees, said company estimator Dennis Liming.

The company pays $500 for year-long use of the public launches, he said, but only uses them a dozen times a year.

"It's pretty steep," said Liming, who is also on the water advisory board. "I think there could be an overall reduction of the schedule of fees that's more appropriate for the moderate user."

The business typically uses a private launch for its activities like barge work, dock construction and pile driving. It only uses public docks to load equipment and materials for large projects, he said.

Liming agrees the fee is necessary, he said, since commercial use is harder on the docks than individual boats.

But business is tough right now, he pointed out.

"Construction in general is down, so our business, like everybody else's, is affected," Liming said.

Nick Snyder with county Parks and Waterways could not be reached for an exact fee schedule.

Aucutt said he's confident some waterways fees will change before good weather returns.

"We anticipate (the commissioners) will take action before next boating season," he said.