GALVESTON — The long-running, noisy skirmish between the Port of Galveston and parking-lot competitors whose buses transport passengers to the island’s cruise ship terminals ended quietly Monday.

The Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves, which oversees port operations, voted unanimously to create a new tariff for cruise parking-lot operators.

Rather than charge $10 every time one of their buses drops off or picks up passengers at the terminal — a system that proved to be both controversial and unwieldy — the port will charge the operators a flat monthly rate based on their total number of parking spaces, multiplied by $8 per space.

The port expects that revenue from the new tariff will be about $60,000 a year. The rate will be in effect until August 2011, when it will be adjusted to match Consumer Price Index increases.

“I’m happy with what we settled on,” said Cindy Hayes, manager of EZ Cruise Parking, who attended Monday’s meeting. “Obviously we’d be happier if we didn’t have to pay anything, but the calculation based on parking capacity is something that we can work with.”

With 320 parking spaces, EZ Cruise is the largest of the three competing cruise ship operators, compared with Lighthouse Cruise Parking (200 spaces) and Dolphin Cruise Ship Parking (110 spaces). Dolphin owner Aslam Kapadia said he had hoped the rate would have been between $5 and $7 per space, but accepted the outcome, as did Lighthouse owner Mike Lindley.

“Now we finally have something we can budget on (each month),” said Lindley. “There’s a lot of business out there for everyone, and hopefully we can all have a long-lasting relationship.”

The port instituted the $10-per-trip tariff charge for parking lot and hotel shuttle bus operators in January 2005 but was unable to properly enforce the measure.

It was not until the port threatened earlier this month to prevent the buses from entering port property to collect past-due fees that various settlements were reached.

Bus operators had complained about the port’s method of counting vehicles, which even port officials conceded had some flaws.

“It was a matter of sitting down with each customer to finally get these settlement agreements, and it took some time because each one operates differently,” said Benny Holland, wharves board chairman. “Cinderella’s slipper doesn’t fit everyone.”

Area hotels whose guests stay overnight before or after their cruise will still be charged the $10 per trip fee, considering they make far fewer daily trips than the parking lot operators.

All bus operators pay a $250 license fee, renewable each year for $50 plus $10 for each annual vehicle access sticker.

Steve Cernak, port director, said that he will continue negotiations with area hoteliers to see if a simpler solution could be reached, but he said they have all been paying their $10-per-trip fee since July 1.

According to a list of delinquent accounts distributed to the board Monday, $216,706 in unpaid tariffs accrued prior to July 1 is still owed but under negotiation for payment.

The list shows that Fertitta Hospitality, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and The San Luis Hotel have paid their outstanding balances in the past month.

Separately, the wharves board voted to allow port staff to take on some of the other parking lot operators that sell pre-paid parking passes over the Internet.

The port will pay Galveston.com, a Web site service provider, $400 a month to set up the software system on its Web site, plus $150 monthly and a 35-cent fee for each credit card transaction, in addition to a 10-percent commission for all pre-paid parking passes sold.

The port charges $45 to $105 for cruise vehicle parking depending on the length of the cruise.