Port commission approve resolution for multiyear levy period

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The Port of Port Townsend commissioners are another step closer to seeking a tax levy to pay for repairs and improvements.

The resolution, unanimously approved by the commission at their regular business meeting March 27, would not impose any immediate tax, said Eric Toews, deputy director at the port. Instead, it is a notice of intent that lets the public know that the port is looking to levy a tax.

“As the commission knows, the port faces tens of millions of dollars in critical infrastructure projects that need to be undertaken if the port’s core lines of business and our community’s working waterfront character are going to be preserved for future generations,” Toews said. “The commission and subsequent commissions would determine how much, if any, should be levied and collected in the ensuing year as part of the annual budget process.”

The port has an Industrial Development District that formed in 1966, explained interim executive director Jim Pivarnik.

“An Industrial Development District, or an IDD, is a taxing district, but a tax that is limited in time and scope,” Pivarnik said.

The state statute governing IDD’s allows three levy periods. The port’s first six-year levy period was taken in 1966, and the funds generated were used to make improvements to the Point Hudson jetty.

The maximum amount that can be taxed is $15 million over a period of 20 years, Pivarnik said.

The commission would discuss the amount to be taxed in 2020 during their yearly budget discussions in November, which would include a public hearing process.

“It’s a tool that the port can use to fund infrastructure,” Pivarnik said.

If, after 20 years, the port wished to take their third multiyear levy period, it would have to be approved by a vote of the public.

All three of the commissioners were in support of the resolution.

“Our financial constraints are so large, that unless we get something like this to happen, the port will quickly become unrecognizable,” said Commissioner Steve Tucker.

The commissioners also expressed a desire to form a citizen advisory board to assist in deciding how funds will be used.

“I do think we need a citizen advisory board,” said Commissioner Pete Hanke. “If we are able to put these tools into place, we will want that board to keep us moving in the right direction.”

The nature of the multiyear levy means that coming up in November, commissioners could impose a tax of up to forty-five cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value.

But it is unlikely that they would tax that much, Pivarnik said.

Instead, he said, they could tax 10 cents per thousand in 2020, and then decide not to tax anything the next year. But because the commission is always changing, it is difficult to know how future commissioners would levy taxes.

But commissioners expressed that they hoped this possible future tax would preserve the nature of Port Townsend and Jefferson County’s working waterfront.

“The working waterfront, that’s not just a catch phrase,” Toews said. “To put it in perspective, the port’s infrastructure is the foundation that supports 450 private sector jobs here at Boat Haven alone, about 1,100 direct jobs county wide and about 2,200 total jobs in our county. Port infrastructure is really the key to all of that.”