PORT TOWNSEND — Port of Port Townsend commissioners have approved a 2024 operations and capital budget.
Commissioners Pam Petranek and Carol Hasse approved the budget Wednesday after minor discussion and no comment from anyone in person or online during the public hearing. Commissioner Pete Hanke was absent and excused from the meeting.
It was the fourth draft of the 2024 budget commissioners had reviewed.
Pushback from Jefferson County International Airport land leaseholders against a proposed 8-cent-per-square-foot monthly increase dominated public feedback at previous hearings. The rate schedule approved as part of the 2024 budget included a monthly increase of 7 cents per square foot — more than the 6.5-cent increase many tenants wanted, but less than an adjusted rate of 7.3 cents port staff had offered.
“Our fourth go-around is much easier than our first go-around and our second go-around and our third go-around,” Petranek said.
The port’s 2024 budget included total operating revenue of $8,355,132, a $7,480,100 or a 11.4 percent increase from the 2023 budget. Total operating expenses were budgeted at $7,093,094, which was $600,719 more than the 2023 budget. The port’s net operating income before depreciation and non-operating expenses was set to be $1,242,038, or $254,313 more than the 2023 budget — an increase of about 25 percent.
Most of the port’s revenue-generating operations like service and yard rates, slip, moorage and launch fees at Boat Haven, Point Hudson, Herb Beck Marina and airport facilities will see a 4.6 percent rate increases next year.
The 2024 budget included $1,134,000 in revenue from the general property tax levy. The amount reflected a 1 percent increase over the 2023 levy approved by commissioners and a 1 percent increase levied on new construction and collected by the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office.
The port would collect $2,634,289 from the Industrial Development District tax levy that would be invested in capital projects.
Funding for a capital budget of $11,640,000 included a mix of grants, general and IDD levies, port reserves and operating income.
Among the 28 capital projects planned for 2024 are repair of the breakwater and a stormwater treatment upgrade at Boat Haven; construction of a new terminal at the airport; completion of the Point Hudson jetty construction project; replacement of the boat launches in Gardiner at Herb Beck Marina; vehicle and equipment purchases; and repaving of various port-owned properties.
Also in the capital budget is $450,000 for design, engineering and permitting for the JCIA Eco-Industrial Park. Executive Director Eron Berg said when a feasibility study for the project was conducted in 2011, there had not been much of a demand for such a facility.
That has changed, however.
“There’s renewed interest in the county for industrial land,” Berg said. “It’s an old idea that the time is right for.”
The study outlined development of a light industrial park on port-owned land next to the airport that incorporates low-impact design technologies to control storm water, resource-efficient construction, limited impervious surfaces, a green buffer around the perimeter of the site and native tree and plant landscaping. The industrial park would be marketed to tenants that produce environmentally friendly products and services.
While some elements of the study concept would need to be reworked, Petranek and Hasse said they liked its focus on sustainable design and that it gave the port the ability to develop a new revenue stream.
“I agree this should happen,” Hasse said. “We need space to grow our local businesses, not to mention who else might want to come in.”
Petranek asked Berg when the project might be completed if everything went according to plan. He estimated it could be ready sometime in 2026, depending on the port’s ability to obtain funding.
Capital Projects Director Matt Klontz said runway 9/27 and the parallel taxiway at the airport would be closed Nov. 15-16 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for paving and striping associated with construction of the connector taxiway. The runway and the parallel taxiway would be reopened at night between 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
