PORT TOWNSEND — Port of Port Townsend staff presented a proposed 2025 consolidated budget, capital budget, rates and fees and property tax levy increases to commissioners.
Tuesday’s meeting was the third draft of many elements of the budget that commissioners started looking at in September.
Commissioners will vote to adopt the 2025 budget at a public hearing on Nov. 13. The budget, including project descriptions, updated rate cards and details about funding, can be found on the port’s website, tinyurl.com/5bjrnmwh.
The $8.81 million in operating revenues and $8.165 million in operating expenditures would create a net operating income of $644,000. The amount is 2 percent above the end-of-year forecast for 2024, but it reflects what Connie Anderson, the port’s director of finance and administration, said has been a slowing of the port’s revenues and rise in costs, particularly insurance and personnel.
More than 50 percent of the proposed $16.6 million capital budget would be dedicated to Boat Haven projects. The biggest is the $5.23 million stormwater improvement project slated to begin next year.
Other large line items are $2 million for the Sims Gateway and Boat Yard expansion project and $1.7 million for the upgrade of the main breakwater.
Capital improvement projects at the port’s other properties include $2.135 million for Jefferson County International Airport, $575,000 for improvements at the Herb Beck Marina and campground and $953,000 for replacing the Gardiner boat launch.
Anderson said the port already has secured almost 95 percent of the funding for its 2025 capital projects. Most of it — 46 percent — is through grants and 29 percent is from Industrial Development District levy funds.
A 1 percent increase in the property tax levy for 2025 would generate $1.14 million for general purposes. The IDD tax levy would collect $2.6 million in 2025 — the same amount the port has collected for the past two years.
Rates and fees at port properties generally would increase by the Consumer Price Index rate of 3.8 percent. At JCIA, the prevailing ground lease rate would increase by .003 to 0.0727 per square foot per month.
Among the new fees are charges for copying and processing public records.
Matt Klontz, the port’s director of capital projects, updated commissioners Tuesday on discussions with community stakeholders on the kind of fence and landscaping that should be used in the Sims Way and Boat Yard expansion project. The project’s design team recommended a 5-foot-tall galvanized chain-link fence covered with foliage along the port’s property line and spaced 18 inches from the sidewalk.
Joni Blanchard, a member of the stakeholder committee whose business, Leatherwood Finishing Co., is located in the Boat Yard, said boat owners and workers want a fence that is tall enough to keep out would-be thieves and shield activity from pedestrians and drivers.
“Five feet is too low; people can just hop over,” she said. “There are a lot of expensive tools lying around and stuff gets ripped off.”
Commissioners preferred a 6-foot-tall galvanized chain-link fence because it would provide the height needed for security, but is a cheaper alternative to other metal fences proposed by the design team.
Commissioner Pete Hanke suggested the savings could be used for putting low-maintenance plants next to the fence to create a more attractive separation between Sims Way and the Boat Yard.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
