The annual operating and capital budgets are developed through a transparent budgeting process, which includes public review and Commission approval.
Each fall, Port staff reviews projected revenues and expenses against the Port’s goals and objectives for the coming year and develops a preliminary budget. In early October, staff presents the preliminary budget to the Board of Commissioners at a budget study session, held during a Special Commission meeting open to the public. Following that study session, the draft budget is made available on the Port’s website or in hard copy from the main Port office. A public hearing is held on the preliminary budget at its first regularly scheduled Commission meeting in November, followed by a Commission decision on the Port’s final budget.
The final budget has several major purposes. It converts the Port’s policies and plans, including its Strategic and Comprehensive plans, into services and future capital improvement projects. It serves as a vehicle to communicate these plans to the public and becomes the work plan to be accomplished in the next fiscal year.
The 2023 budget reflects total operating revenues of $18.610 million, an increase of approximately 10% from the 2022 adopted budget. The Port anticipates continued inflation, but has conservatively forecast gas prices to return to more normal levels (affecting the Port’s gross fuel sales at its Marina fuel dock and Airport fuel island) and for CPI to trend downward. Petroleum coke and sulfur exports showed signs of rebounding in 2022, following the significant decrease in oil production during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Port has forecast 271,000 metric tons in 2023, an increase of roughly 15% over 2022 budgeted volumes.
The Port anticipates various challenges contributing to increasing operating expenses; to include, rising inflation, supply chain issues, increasing demands on the Port’s infrastructure, and historic losses in the insurance marketplace causing premium pressure. Despite these challenges, the Port remains committed to process improvement and providing safe, productive facilities with excellent internal and external customer service. While no new full-time staff is anticipated in 2023, the Port has engaged a firm to lobby legislative priorities at the local, state and federal levels, as well as public relations and communications support to promote the Port’s individual and community initiatives. The 2023 budget projects total operating expenses of $18.556 million, an 11% increase over the 2022 budget.
Capital projects are anticipated to total over $9.8 million in 2023, as the Port begins to shift focus from deferred maintenance across all operating areas towards new opportunities within the Marina and newly acquired properties. Significant initiatives include a fully upgraded RV Park complete with dedicated utilities, green spaces, privacy hedges and a restroom facility, feasibility and design of potential West Basin Buildings and the West Basin Parking/Heavy Haul Route Redevelopment, design and permitting efforts for the Industrial Park at the Rockwell property, and design work for both the Shore-to-Ship power and Commercial Pumpout projects, drawn from the 2020 Marine Terminal Modernization Study.
Rounding out the 2023 budget is the Port’s ongoing program to identify and address environmental contamination from prior operations on Port properties. In 2023, the Port anticipates investing $2.5 million in continued cleanup and restoration work at the Dakota Creek Industries and Quiet Cove sites, and continued remedial investigation and analysis on the former Pier 2 Log Haul Out site.
