PORT ANGELES — Taxpayers might have to help the Port of Port Angeles stay the course between environmental concerns and economic opportunities.
That will come, port Commissioner Jim Hallett said Tuesday, when commissioners decide in November whether to claim the annual 1 percent hike in property taxes to which governments are entitled.
“It’s politically easy to say, ‘We don’t need the money, so we won’t take that,’” Hallett said.
“My personal philosophy is that I would rather stay current . . . than be politically popular in the short run.”
Hallett apparently referred to Clallam County commissioners’ announced intention not to seek the 1 percent raise to which property-taxing governments are limited unless voters lift the levy limit.
Budget meetings
Port commissioners will conduct an afternoon budget workshop after their next meeting Oct. 13.
They will frame a spending plan Oct. 27, followed by a public hearing Nov. 10 and a decision Nov. 24.
When the port broached the issue at a capital improvements workshop Sept. 14, Port Commissioner John Calhoun said, if asked to approve new taxes, “I’d say, ‘No.’ I think everybody would say, ‘No.’”
The port currently receives $250,000 to $350,000 a year in taxes it can use to underwrite bonds.
That will triple at the end of 2016, according to Karen Goschen, the port’s finance director, when some current bonds are paid off.
Not taking the 1 percent raise also would cumulatively lessen tax revenue in the future, Hallett said.
Port commissioners Tuesday eyed a $4.7 million draft capital outlay for 2016 to gather and treat stormwater from their harborfront properties that include the log yard and former KPly mill site.
KPly cost rises
As for the latter property, 439 Marine Drive, they approved a $1.4 million increase to clean up the 19 acres on the harborfront they want to develop for marine trades.
The overrun came from an unexpected depth and breadth of soil contaminated by an underground gasoline pipeline.
Work at the site continues, with contractors excavating and hauling away contaminated dirt.
The dirt is trucked to Bremerton, then transferred to rail cars bound for a landfill in eastern Oregon.
Also in the port’s capital priorities are $2.5 million allocated to improve Terminal 1, where tankers tie up for topside repairs, and $750,000 for a head-tie dolphin at Terminal 3, where bulk cargo ships load raw logs.
All the projects and others represent the cost of keeping the waterfront in industrial use, Calhoun said.
Not all Northwest ports have done so, he said at last week’s workshop. Some have “gentrified” their harborfronts with residential and retail space, he said, later singling out Olympia, Anacortes and Bellingham.
Calhoun said the port’s dilemma is the public’s demand for a clean environment but voters’ unwillingness to pay for it.
But set against voters’ sentiment for lower taxes, he said, is their dependence on the port for paychecks, both for port employees and for jobs spun off from the harbor’s recreational and industrial companies.
The bottom line: The port must use taxes to leverage loans and bonds to keep “this irreplaceable industrial area,” Calhoun said.
Winners and losers
That might mean subsidizing some lines of business while reaping profits from others. Some lose money but benefit the public, Goschen said.
Purely on the basis of operating margin, only the port’s marine terminals and the Port Angeles Boat Haven make money.
Marine terminals also provide 688 direct jobs and nearly another 1,300 spinoff jobs in Clallam County, according to Goschen’s figures.
Depreciation and administration, Goschen noted, are hobgoblins of the balance sheet. For instance, William R. Fairchild International Airport, at least while it collects no fees from a scheduled air carrier, loses $755,000 to depreciation and $658,000 to management.
The port continues to await proposals from SeaPort Airlines and Alaska Airlines but as of Tuesday had received no firm offer from either carrier, said Ken O’Hollaren, the port’s executive director.
Top 10 projects
The top 10 projects to which the port has committed include:
■ Composite Recycling Technology Center — $300,000 in port funds.
■ Marine Trades Industrial Park on Marine Drive, mostly the KPly site — $500,000 in 2016 with $8 million forecast for the future.
■ Terminal 1 redevelopment — $2.5 million.
■ Runway obstructions — $35,000.
■ Fuel tank replacement — $150,000.
■ Stormwater improvements — $4.7 million with an additional $3.3 million planned in the future.
■ Security improvements — $180,000.
■ Boat launch ramp — $345,000.
■ Airport apron improvements — $52,000.
■ Boat Haven laundry — $15,000.
Other top-rated projects include replacing a fuel float, $95,000; the Terminal 3 head-tie dolphin, $750,000; and sprinkler replacement and electrical grounding at Terminal 1, $400,000.
“It’s a heavy investment in environmental cleanup and industrial sustainability,” Calhoun said.
Commissioners, however, advanced the priority for a new audio/visual system in the port’s meeting room at 338 W. First St. and will entertain proposals to erect signs proclaiming the ownership of port properties.
“We should be in better view of the public,” Calhoun said.
“There’s value in appearance; there’s value in information,” Hallett said.
“The public can see these are assets that the port operates.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
