PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles budget is about $231,000 ahead of projections.
Bill James, port director of finance and administration, reviewed the report for first quarter 2010 at Monday’s port commissioners meeting.
Money coming in to the port was about $32,300 more than expected and expenses were $198,700 less than forecast.
“We are going in the right direction,” James said.
“Of course, we’ve talked about all of these elements before. It is just a matter of managing it now.”
The primary variances included a boost over what was expected in both marine terminal receipts and log yard receipts — primarily as a result of two log ships that arrived in March and this month.
Additional revenues
The port had expected to bring in $168,065. Actual receipts for the marine terminal so far have been $197,057, James said in his report.
In the log yard, $126,162 was forecast, and a total of $170,039 was brought in.
“When we made the budget we didn’t know that the [log] ships would be coming in,” he said.
Even though most receipts were up, not all were.
Receipts for both Sequim’s John Wayne Marina and Port Angeles Boat Haven were about 4 percent lower than expected, James said.
“It is a really interesting thing because [occupancy is] down by exactly the same percent,” he said.
The port had expected to bring in $620,346 but only collected $600,238 in the first quarter.
Not rate-related
“One thing we know is that it isn’t rate-related,” James said.
“Because this year we did not raise the rates at all, we know that wasn’t the primary factor.”
A host of other slight variances, which are not listed here, made up the rest of the difference.
Expeditures were less than expected. Two of the primary areas were rental properties and economic development.
Rental properties expenditures was a miscalculation, James said.
“This was a mistake on my part,” he said.
“I unintentionally carried forward a whole lot of expenditures in maintenance, utilities and other costs associated with the Peninsula Plywood lease that got wrapped up in that number.
“When we were unsure whether or not PenPly would be reopening, I factored that in.
“Once I factored that out, we were right on the mark.
“It was an unintentional slack that was built in to that part of the budget.
“The good news is that number will probably continue to look better and better as the year goes on because those expenses were built in for the whole year.”
The port spent $62,400 less than the $164,401 that was budgeted, he said.
Economic development
In economic development the port spent $48,400 less than expected — however, that was primarily because the budget was divided equally over the four quarters and will possibly be counteracted throughout the rest of the year, James said.
James predicted that the port was on its way to a good year because a third log-exporting ship is expected in mid-May and a fourth in June.
“We might have one more in July, but that isn’t quite sure yet,” he said.
The two log ships that have made stops in Port Angeles so far have generated about $80,000 each in revenue for the port, said David Hagiwara, port director of trade and economic development.
Although most expenditures were less than expected, the log yard expenses were underestimated, primarily because a LeTourneau heavy equipment machine needed repairs and many materials had to be purchased.
The boost in expenses also was related to the log ships, James said.
The port had expected to spend $200,471, and instead spent about $301,089.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
