PORT TOWNSEND — More than 30 people turned out for a heated discussion on the Port of Port Townsend’s capital projects and the proposed rate hikes that are meant to help pay for them.
The port is proposing 10 percent to 16 percent rate increases for moorage, electricity and fees at port marinas to help pay for a long list of capital projects.
The hikes would be roughly a monthly increase of $27 to $43 per month — up to $61 for large boats.
Many at the Wednesday public workshop expressed concern over the affordability of the proposed increases.
Among them was Liz Kanieski, a Port Townsend resident who moors a boat in the Boat Haven marina.
“One of the big tenants of the strategic plan set forward by the port was affordability for Jefferson County residents,” Kanieski said. “Big picture is, is this really an affordable plan?”
Kanieski, who had expressed similar concerns at a Jan. 25 meeting, said that marina tenants had not been consulted on the rate hikes.
Port commissioners will continue discussions on proposed rate hikes at 1 p.m. Wednesday at 333 Benedict St. in Port Townsend.
Sue Nelson, port executive assistant, said they could make a decision then.
“What’s driving the organization right now is our capital projects and what we have lined up for the next five and 10 years,” said Sam Gibboney, Port of Port Townsend executive director, on Wednesday.
“So I really wanted to provide some context for that.”
For over two hours, Gibboney and port commissioners took questions and discussed the roughly $12 million in capital projects that the port has planned for marinas and boat ramps in the coming years, as well as another $4 million at Jefferson County International Airport and other port properties.
A few community members questioned how the port had allowed for so many critical projects to stack up while the port’s cash balance dropped from $5.3 million to $2.8 million in the past six years.
Commissioners and staff members continued to state that they are focusing on the situation as it is now.
“We’re not unique in this as a small government,” Gibboney said.
Aside from increasing revenue through rate hikes, Gibboney said the port hopes to cut costs while maintaining normal port operations and tackling capital projects.
Gibboney said the port aims to lower its debt to cut those costs from future budgets; find ways to lower utility payments, including adding meters on the docks; and develop partnerships with stakeholders in the Point Hudson breakwater replacement project, the city of Port Townsend and the Northwest Maritime Center.
The new rates are the port’s answer to dwindling revenues and limited state and federal funding and have already been accounted for in the 2017 budget, which was approved in December, Gibboney said.
“That burden of repairing and maintaining infrastructure has been moved from a shared state level to the community, and that’s what we’re feeling,” Gibboney said.
Many of the capital projects are repairs to, or replacements of, critical infrastructure, according to port officials.
These projects include the Boat Haven marina breakwater, which was originally constructed in the 1950s, and the Point Hudson marina breakwater, which was built during World War II.
Roughly a fourth of the oldest section of the Boat Haven breakwater received an emergency repair in January, but according to Gibboney, that is a temporary fix.
“We can expect a service life of five years, maybe 10, before it will need a replacement,” Gibboney said.
According to Gibboney, the port had discussed the Boat Haven breakwater with the Army Corps of Engineers.
“They basically said they don’t have the money for marinas of this size,” Gibboney said.
“In the event of a breakwater failure, they told us — politely — that in that case, they would tell us to get our debris out of their channel.”
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
