PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles’ proposed 2009 budget expenditures will match receipts, but it won’t have a surplus as in past years, commissioners were told Monday.
By the end of this year, the port expects to have about $15.5 million as its total balance, and by the end of 2009, it will have about $13.5 million, Finance Director Bill James said.
A public hearing will be held on the budget Nov. 10 at the port commission’s regular meeting, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at its headquarters, 338 W. First St.
Nearly half of the general fund will be spent on personnel in 2009, James said.
If approved, the capital budget will include $2.425 million to finance the William R. Fairchild International Airport master plan, reconstruction of a taxiway at the airport, equipment investments, another allotment of money for the Port Angeles Harbor-Works Public Development Authority, John Wayne Marina float improvements, KPly site redevelopment and improvements in the Port Angeles boatyard.
He reviewed each section of the general fund budget individually:
• Marine terminals are expected to have a $327,300 surplus, with most categories staying about the same as 2008. The biggest revenue increase is handling — which is projected to go from $500 this year to $2,500 next year.
• The port’s log yard is expected to have a $91,100 surplus, James said.
“We are projecting a surplus, which is good, but that is based on a whole bunch of assumptions about the log yard,” James said.
The log yard is the least predictable area of the budget because the future of the logging business is not known, he said.
•âÇThe airport is projected to have a $123,200 deficit, James said.
“Although there is still a deficit, it is a smaller deficit than last year,” Airports and Marinas Manager Jeff Robb said.
“So we are moving in the right direction.”
• The Sekiu Airport also had a deficit of about $19,200, James said.
“To preface that, there are very few small airports that don’t have a negative revenue,” James said.
• The Port Angeles Boat Haven will have a surplus of about $699,300, with no major changes from this year’s budget.
• John Wayne Marina was expected to have a surplus of about $495,700, also with no major changes from the 2008 budget.
• The boatyard in Port Angeles will have a surplus of about $40,900, which reflects most budget years, James said.
In the 2008 budget, miscellaneous expenses decreased the surplus to about $8,800.
• The port’s rental property budget includes a surplus of about $304,100.
But if KPly, the shuttered plywood mill at 439 Marine Drive, does not go back into operation, the rental loss would be about $156,000, which would change the projections. A total of $300,000 out of the capital budget was also allocated to the redevelopment of the mill which has been out of operation since November 2007.
• Other port expenses include $198,000 for mechanical maintenance, $268,400 for facilities maintenance, $292,100 for economic development and marketing and about $1.65 in administrative costs.
The economic development costs include $100,000 which the port plans to spend to woo the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to place a base of operations in Port Angeles.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
