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By Buddy Rose
Business to Business
Port of Centralia commissioners approved the 2010 budget at the regular Port meeting held Nov. 18. The regular meeting was preceded by a public hearing o the budget. No one from the public attended the hearing.
Port Executive Director Kyle Heaton said total revenues for 2010 amount to about $3.90 million and total expenses are $4.2 million, which will reduce the current Port general fund balance of just over $1.3 million by about $300,000. Last year, total revenues were $2.6 million and expenses were $2.4 million, said Heaton
Port operating revenues for 2010 are projected to be $948,322 or down about 29 percent from 2009. In response, operating expenses have also been reduced 29 percent, to $537,922, said Heaton. Salary expenses are being reduced along with general administrative expenses in order to save money, he added.
Major non-operating expenses for 2010 include General Obligation bond repayments that increases to $2.0 million – about $1.1 million more than in 2009 – due to a balloon payment structure built into the bonds when they were purchased several years ago, explained Heaton.
Capital expenditures for 2010 are $905,593, most of which are earmarked for incremental improvement to Gallagher Road between Galvin and the railroad tracks that will provide utilities and widen the road to facilitate commercial traffic flow as that area is developed, said Heaton. He added that further improvements and an extension of Gallagher Road that will connect to Old Highway 99 are planned for the future as funds become available.
To help pay for the increased expenses, 2010 Port levy tax rates for property owners in the Port District will raised to $0.37 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. The 2009 rate was $0.219 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.
The 2010 rate returns the levy to about what it was in 2006. Since that time, successive tax decrease had been imposed in each of the years up 2009, noted Heaton.
The commissioners also approved a one-year Industrial Development District (IDD) tax of $0.45 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. Ports are allowed to impose temporary IDD taxes up to $0.45 per thousand for a maximum of six years, explained Heaton.
Heaton noted that the combined taxes for 2010 will cost a Port District taxpayer with an assessed property value of $200,000 about $13.67 per month.
“After five successive years of reducing its tax levy by 47 percent he Port will now vote for an increase in the levy as well as a (one-year) deployment of the Industrial Development tax,” said Heaton. “We run a lean operation at the Port but the bottom line is that we must continue to invest in job creation, even during hard times.”
Port Commissioner Art Lehman said, “We’re going to put this money to work to make investments in infrastructure for jobs in our community. With over 15 percent unemployment in our county, we must do all that we can to create jobs.”
“We remain optimistic about the future,” continued Heaton. “The Port of Centralia is a great place for business to locate and interest from a range of companies remains strong.”
In other business during November, Port commissioners approved the renewal of annual contract with the State Dept of General Administration for the utilization of surplus property. The agreement allows the Port to dispose of or purchase surplus property through that department, said Heaton.
Heaton also reported to commissioners regarding a feasibility study by the State Dept. of Transportation on a north Lewis County interchange on Interstate 5. The new interchange would benefit the Port and the City of Centralia by redirecting Port traffic that is currently traveling along Harrison Avenue to the Harrison Street interchange and Old Highway 99 to the Grand Mound interchange, he noted, substantially reducing congestion along those routes.
According to conclusions of the study, said Heaton, constructing a new North Lewis County interchange is possible but not likely. The report notes that a recently revised federal process for obtaining approval of a new interchange on the interstate system is very laborious.
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