Former Langley harbormaster Eric Lambour has been ordered to pay back $3,000 to the city of Langley in restitution after being found guilty of stealing boating fees last year.

The actual amount that Lambour took from the fee box at the Langley marina is unknown, but city officials have said they suspect Lambour took thousands.

Lambour himself admitted to taking between $400 to $700 in cash from the marina fees, which were paid by boaters visiting the marina.

Lambour was arrested after city employees launched a sting operation last year. He later told police he was going to use the money to enhance the efficiency and appearance of the marina, and that he was willing to provide restitution for the funds.

However, Langley’s Clerk-Treasurer Debbie Mahler said the city estimated that Lambour actually took between $10,000 and $12,000 over time.

“It was sort of a compromise,” said Josh Choate, an Island County deputy prosecutor.

Choate explained that it was not possible to prove that Lambour took more than he admitted to police.

“He may have taken more, but he was the only one with access to the box with the moorage fees,” Choate said.

Before the official restitution hearing in Island County Superior Court, the city and court agreed to accept Lambour’s offer to pay back $3,000. He will pay it in $500 installments beginning this month.

Of course it would have been nice to get more money, but overall the city is satisfied with the outcome, said Langley Mayor Neil Colburn said.

“I am grateful for my staff that stayed on top of it. A big thank you to the prosecutor’s office,” Colburn said. “They bent over backwards to work with the city on this.”

Lambour was arrested last summer by the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

He was fired from his city job at the marina after his arrest on Aug. 24, 2005. Lambour had plead guilty to second-degree theft charges in April and served a 30-day jail sentence.

Lambour was also ordered to pay $817 in court fines in addition to the restitution money.

Lambour was caught after a sting operation by city officials connected him with disappearing marina funds.

It was part of Lambour’s job as harbormaster to collect the receipt envelopes and then transfer them to the clerk-treasurer’s office for accounting.

Mahler noticed a drop in the amount of money being submitted after Lambour took over as harbormaster, according to police reports.

After she discovered the drop in funds, city employees started tallying the marina receipts turned in by the harbormaster.

Mahler discovered that before Lambour was working as harbormaster, cash made up 56 percent of the fees collected from the marina, and the other 44 percent came from checks.

After Lambour began collecting the receipts, only 26 percent of receipts involved cash, and 74 percent came from checks.

The number of reported vessels at the marina also dropped under Lambour’s watch, even though other city employees did not notice a visible change.

City employees confirmed their suspicions by depositing their own money-filled envelopes in the harbor fare box, and found Lambour was skimming funds from boaters’ fees.

The city has since changed its marina fees collection procedure, said Rick Hill, director of public works.

There are at least two people present at all times when money is collected from the fare box, he said.

Michaela Marx Wheatley can be reached at 221-5300 or mmarx

wheatley@southwhidbeyrecord.com.