Port of Port Townsend commissioners are slated to discuss whether to stop funding a set-aside fund reserved for Boat Haven renovations, and to create a new reserve fund earmarked to include projects at all port district properties.

The proposal is up for public comment as part of the commission's Wednesday, July 27, meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Port Commission Building, 333 Benedict St.

Since 2004, the public port district has set aside funds from moorage fees in a "Port Townsend Boat Haven renovation reserve fund." The fund, which currently has a balance of $777,849, is specifically held in reserve for future "design, engineering, permitting and renovation work" in the Boat Haven facility. The current budget allocates $10,000 per month to the fund from Boat Haven fees.

Sam Gibboney, the port's new executive director, is proposing that "the 2016 budget be amended in such a manner as to fund a new capital reserve fund that is for port-wide use as of August 2016. The PT Boat Haven renovation reserve fund would receive no additional funding, and would be maintained specifically for future capital projects at Boat Haven. The new capital reserve fund could be used port-wide as determined by commission approval of a capital projects budget."

The reserve fund was created in part as a response to efforts by the Port Townsend Moorage Tenants Union, which was concerned that despite a repeated rise in moorage rates, funds paid by Boat Haven tenants were not being set aside for repair and replacement of aging moorage infrastructure.

According to union spokesperson Bertram Levy, the Boat Haven reserve fund has previously had a balance of up to 1.2 million, but about $250,000 was spent on replacing the boat ramp washdown at the time the new port administration office was built, and another $250,000 was spent to upgrade commercial infrastructure at Boat Haven. Abigail Berg, port finance director, was unable to confirm these numbers as of press time.

Berg stressed that "the port really needs to have a capital reserve" for all port properties, and that changing how reserve funds are set aside and allocated is part of the process of properly funding capital improvements.

The recent capital repair draft document estimates that repairing the aging C/D Docks to add an additional 10 years of useful life would cost about $1.6 million. Levy asserts that if the port simply continues to set aside monies in the Boat Haven reserve as planned, the money would be in place by the time the C/D Docks work needs to be done.

"The Boat Haven reserve fund is extremely important to the moorage tenants," Levy told the Leader July 26. "That fund is necessary to repair the C/D Docks, which are a major revenue source for the port."