Hi All -
After a little research I found out some interesting info.
Joe's info is usually very good...so I sought to find out the
discrepency
between our two experiences.

It appears that administration of NYS parks is actually divided up in
between NYS Parks and Recreation and the Dept. of Environmental
Conservation, which may explain the lack of uniformity when it comes
to fee assesment.

In the Adirondack's and Catskills, it's administered by ENCON, which
probably doesn't charge fees.

However the Palisades State Park Commission (part of Parks and Rec)
oversees parks in the Taconic - there's that crazy spelling again -
and Palisades Regions (think lower Hudson Valley).

The permits for the Taconic region were as stated above, and the
permits for the Palisades division are $25 per year.
The woman at Parks and Rec, also told me that there was another site
at Keewaydin (she thought it was in the thousand islands) that charges
$50 per year for a permit (for 1-9 launches), and $100 for 20-24
launches, and Lake Hempstead on Long Island charged $50 for any
car-top boat per year.

So, while it all depends upon the administrative entity per
region....I still think that it's an awful lot to pay.

Two_K