No free launch
<p>The City of Coeur d’Alene has posted signs reminding boaters to pay launch fees at the Third Street boat launch. Fee collection is down considerably from previous boating seasons.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - The honor system hasn't worked well enough this summer when it comes to paying to launch boats in downtown Coeur d'Alene.
So some new signs appeared at the Third Street boat launch, reminding people to cough up the dough.
"We were doing an honor system and a lot of people were not paying," city spokesman Keith Erickson said Wednesday.
A pay box was installed this spring. The city no longer has a manned booth to make sure people pay. The booth was eliminated when McEuen Park was completed.
The fees haven't changed, with Idaho residents charged $5 per launch and people from out of state paying $10, said Coeur d'Alene Parks Superintendent Bill Greenwood.
He said the city knew too many people weren't paying the fees because the money collected wasn't hitting numbers seen in past summers.
"We had a manned booth to have a comparison," Greenwood said. "The revenues are down a little bit."
The city also did some observation of the pay box and launch.
"It's still a very busy launch," he said.
The new and prominent signs will hopefully get revenues going in the right direction again, he said.
"We're hoping to get their attention," he said.
Diamond Parking checks the box and gets a cut of the money.