Port Angeles identifies $3M for safety facility

City turns to tax sources, pushes road project

PORT ANGELES — The city of Port Angeles has identified a potential $3 million that can be used to help cover costs of the estimated $20 million public safety facility anticipated to be built by the city and Clallam County.

The joint public safety facility will house the county’s emergency operations center and the 911 dispatch center, which is currently located at the Clallam County courthouse.

Grant funding secured for the project totals about $16 million. That leaves about $3 million each for the city and county to figure out how fund, according to previous reports.

City staff identified four funding options that are projected to dedicate a total of $3 million to the project, city finance director Sarina Carrizosa said.

The first bucket of funding is future capital funds garnered from the 911 one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax. Seventy-five percent of the revenue generated from that tax is dedicated to Peninsula Communications’ operational costs, Carrizosa said, while the other 25 percent is reserved as capital funds.

The capital funds collected to date are counted in the $16 million that already has been identified for the project.

However, given that staff believe the project will take at least 24 months to complete, Carrizosa said an additional $1.1 million in capital funds likely will be collected and can be dedicated to the facility.

Carrizosa also said the PenCom operational budget likely will generate about $220,000 more than it spends, based on the current budget and predicted trends, and that could go to the public safety facility.

The third bucket involves reducing PenCom’s operational reserve from the 25 percent fund balance requirement to 10 percent over the next two years. That will free up about $600,000 to be used for the project, Carrizosa said.

After the building is completed, the reserves would then be rebuilt to the 25 percent fund balance requirement.

The final funding source involves re-prioritizing a few transportation projects planned for next year, and that would free up real estate excise tax (REET) funds.

The first would be the Lauridsen Boulevard reconstruction, which Carrizosa recommended should be moved to 2029.

“[This area] is not failing to the point where it couldn’t be delayed for the foreseeable future,” city Public Works Director Mike Healy said.

The project requires “a substantial amount of grant funding” before it can be started, City Manager Nathan West said. That funding is unlikely to be secured by next year, which could lead to a delay anyway.

Additionally, Mayor Kate Dexter said the city should postpone the Lauridsen Boulevard project based on the state’s planned Tumwater fish passage barrier project that will shut down parts of that road next year.

“Closing the highway from Black Diamond to the airport turnoff seems like not a great plan for me,” she said.

The other project, the intersection control study, could be moved to 2027, Carrizosa said.

Carrizosa added the city could use $400,000 in transportation benefit district funds for the traffic signal interconnect/preemption project, which would free more REET funds for the public safety facility.

In total, the reprioritizations would reserve at least $1.07 million in REET funding for the project.

Any REET funding used will be replaced by future 911 tax funds, council member Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin said.

That will require the REET funds to be loaned to the project with interest, Carrizosa said.

Additionally, Schromen-Wawrin said the REET funds are a preliminary commitment to be used as a last resort.

“I’m very hesitant of taking money from transportation projects in order to make this project pencil out,” he said.

The council also will ask Clallam County to move forward with two contingency funding options for the city’s portion of the funding.

First, to place an additional one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax on the special election ballot in February, which would generate an estimated $2.1 million additional dollars that could be used for the facility.

Second, to use the 911 sales tax funds to bond for additional needed costs that could be repaid by the same source in the future.

The resolution approving the use and priorities of those funds and authorizing the additional steps was passed by the council 4-3. Dexter and council members Amy Miller and Brendan Meyer voted against the specifics of the resolution.

________

Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Hurricane Ridge day lodge funding held up in Congress

The fate of $80 million in funding to rebuild… Continue reading

Judy Davidson, left, and Kathy Thomas, both of Port Townsend, look over the skin care products offered by Shandi Motsi of Port Townsend, one of the 20 vendors at the second annual Procrastinators Craft Fair at the Palindrome/Eaglemount Cidery on Friday. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Procrastinators Market

Judy Davidson, left, and Kathy Thomas, both of Port Townsend, look over… Continue reading

Services could be impacted by closure

Essential workers won’t get paid in shutdown

A now-deceased male cougar was confirmed by Panthera and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff to have been infected with Avian influenza on the Olympic Peninsula. (Powell Jones/Panthera)
Two cougars infected with bird flu die

Risk of human infection still low, CDC says

D
Readers contribute $58K to Home Fund to date

Donations can be made for community grants this spring

Jefferson Elementary School in Port Angeles designated Thursday dress up like a candy cane day. Back row, from left to right, they are: Wyatt Farman, Ari Ownby, Tayo Murdach, Chloe Brabant, Peyton Underwood, Lola Dixon, River Stella (in wheelchair), Fenja Garling, Tegan Brabant, Odessa Glaude, Eastyn Schmeddinger-Schneder. Front row: Ellie Schneddinger-Schneder, Cypress Crear, Bryn Christiansen and Evelyn Shrout. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Dress like a candy cane

Jefferson Elementary School in Port Angeles designated Thursday dress up like a… Continue reading

EYE ON THE PENINSULA: Jefferson commissioners to meet on Monday

Meetings across the North Olympic Peninsula

A 40-year-old Quilcene man died and a 7-year-old boy was airlifted to a Seattle hospital after the car in which they were riding collided with the back of a school bus on Center Road on Friday morning. (East Jefferson Fire Rescue)
One dies in two-vehicle collision involving school bus

A 40-year-old Quilcene man died and a 7-year-old boy was… Continue reading

Iris McNerney of from Port Townsend is like a pied piper at the Port Hudson Marina. When she shows up with a bag of wild bird seed, pigeons land and coo at her feet. McNerney has been feeding the pigeons for about a year and they know her car when she parks. Gulls have a habit of showing up too whenever a free meal is available. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Feeding the birds

Iris McNerney of from Port Townsend is like a pied piper at… Continue reading

Property purchase intended for housing

Port Angeles envisions 18 to 40 residents

Housing, climate top Port Townsend’s state agenda

City also prioritizes transportation, support at Fort Worden

Dennis Bauer gets emotional while testifying at his triple murder trial in January 2022. His conviction was overturned by the state Court of Appeals and remanded back to Clallam County. (Paul Gottlieb/Peninsula Daily News)
Appeals court overturns murder conviction

Three-judge panel rules Bauer did not receive fair trial