PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles plans to hike its property tax levy by 1 percent for 2016, although state guidelines suggest it increase the amount by only 0.2 percent.
By passing a declaration of “substantial need,” Commissioners Jim Hallett and Colleen McAleer may seek the full increase allowed by law.
Commissioner John Calhoun voted against introducing the resolution, which commissioners must adopt at their Nov. 24 meeting when they consider approving their 2016 budget of $16,964,832.
If they pass the resolution in two weeks, they will bypass a guideline called the Implicit Price Deflator, which would tie tax increases to the rate of inflation.
Even at the full amount, the tax increase will produce only $14,271 more for the port during 2016, not including fresh real estate taxes generated by new construction.
No tax increase
“I can’t support a tax increase,” Calhoun said at the end of public hearings on the resolutions and the budget Tuesday.
“It’s a higher sensitivity to the economic conditions in my district,” he said.
Calhoun represents the West End of Clallam County.
“I don’t think the capital [spending] plan rises to the level of declaring a substantial need,” he said.
$8.8 million income
The budget that commissioners will consider Nov. 24 includes about $8.8 million in operating revenues, said Karen Goschen, the port’s finance director.
The largest share — about 45 percent — would come from marine terminals, topside tanker repair wharfage and log yard operations, including logs towed from Canada, placed into containers and shipped to Tacoma for export.
Operating expenses total about $8.3 million, Goschen said, plus about $500,000 in depreciation.
Goschen said the port’s goal is to amortize all its depreciation estimates by 2020.
The current budget covers about 64 percent of depreciation, she said; 80 percent when one-time expenses are removed; and about 89 percent when grant-supported projects are excluded.
Wages and salaries for 43 full-time-equivalent employees in operations, maintenance and administration account for 60 percent of spending.
The 2016 draft budget projects a $547.474 operating surplus.
Economic development
Late additions to the draft budget included $15,000 more for the Clallam County Economic Development Corp., $30,000 for an executive search to replace resigning Executive Director Ken O’Hollaren (see accompanying report) and $23,000 for the Small Business Development Center, which is housed at port headquarters.
The development center, or SBDC, already receives for free an almost $7,000 lease from the port. The centers counsel startup businesses across Washington, according to Duane Fladland, state director.
“We like to deliver inside solutions for success to small business on the North Olympic Peninsula, bringing people up to the level of expertise where they can start making good decisions about running their own businesses,” she said.
“It’s a coaching process . . . to help them create or preserve wealth.”
Timber harvests
Commissioners also added to the budget $50,000 for advocacy for increased sustainable timber harvests in Clallam County.
Calhoun, former director of the Olympic National Resources Center in Forks and long an advocate of persuading the Department of Natural Resources to eliminate arrearage — timber harvests that have been authorized but not cut — was pessimistic about spending the money.
He predicted timber harvests in 2016 instead would decline by a third due to federal authorities’ adopting new protections for the marbled murrelet, which nests in old-growth trees.
“There just aren’t the mature trees available,” he said. “The outlook isn’t particularly rosy.”
There might not even be sufficient timber to support another port initiative, he said, referring to a mill that would create giant laminated wooden construction components known as mass timber.
Five members of the public attended the public hearings. Only Carol Johnson of the North Olympic Timber Action Committee testified, speaking for the advocacy allocation.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
