The town of Sabattus is now charging people with powered boats and other motorized watercraft $5 to use the Martin’s Point Park boat launch.

The fee, which went into effect July 15, is an effort to help fund park maintenance, according to a letter posted on the town’s Facebook page on Monday.

The town pays about $8,500 annually to maintain the park and boat launch, which pays for trash removal, mowing, weed and brush trimming, and placing and removing the dock, along with other maintenance, according to Martin’s Point Park Commission member Jon Mennealy.

“While we may not collect that much in fees, we hope to help recoup some of that cost,” he said in an email Monday.

The new Martin’s Point Park Commission, members of which were elected by residents last year, is trying to raise funds to support the park, Mennealy said.

“The town will collect and keep a record of the funds collected, to help offset the cost of maintaining the boat launch, which was installed 40 years ago with a grant from the state,” he said.

Residents 65 and older and veterans will be charged a discounted $3 rate. Canoes, kayaks, paddleboarders and other nonmotorized boaters will not be charged to use the boat launch.

There is a donation box for people to put their fees into when no one is at the boat launch to accept them, the letter said.

Multiple people identifying themselves as Sabattus residents called for the town to limit the park and boat launch to residents only in a Facebook post in early May.

Anyone who wants to share concerns about the new policy should contact the town office at 207-375-4331, where they can leave a message for the Martin’s Point Commission.