Port of Astoria staff proposed a $15,455,434 budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year at the agency’s first budget committee meeting Tuesday.
“The fiscal year 2015-16 budget (covering July 1 to June 30, 2016) empowers staff to evaluate the Port’s most pressing needs, focusing on issues that will give the Port its best opportunities to support its existing customers while developing new sources of revenues,” Executive Director Jim Knight said during his presentation Tuesday. “Building on the Port’s 2010 Strategic Plan, this budget reflects that this is the time to strengthen our operational infrastructure, increase staff capabilities and position our organization to take advantage of new opportunities.”
An electronic copy of the proposed budget is available with the online copy of the story at www.dailyastorian.com. The budget committee will take comments on it at its next meeting Tuesday, before likely approving it. The Port’s budget officer would then post a notice of a budget hearing, currently scheduled for June 16, and post a summary of the approved budget in The Daily Astorian.
The proposed budget comes out even as the audit for 2013-14 is being performed by Moss Adams, which had initially been trying to release it before the budget committee process started.
The Port’s Financial Director Jim Grey said it’s more likely the audit will come out near the end of May, after the Port’s budget committee is scheduled to approve the budget. He said the current proposed budget is balanced and based off what the Port will likely take in and spend. The audit only affects the beginning fund balance.“I haven’t heard anything that indicated we were in a negative situation,” Grey said.
The overall budget is 45 percent more than what’s been projected for 2014-15, mainly because of an approximately $5 million runway improvement project at the Astoria Regional Airport planned for this fiscal year, but put off until next. The project is mostly covered by grants from the Federal Aviation Administration and Oregon Department of Transportation.
Port staff estimated between $86 million and $104 million in a “Master Capital Plan” ultimately needed to fix all the issues with its aging infrastructure. From there, staff whittled down the projects to a proposed $11.2 million in capital improvements, split between medium and high priorities.
The high priorities made it into the proposed budget, which calls for $6,346,113 in capital improvements.More than three-quarters of that is for the airport project. The Port also proposes spending $166,000 to remove obstructive trees from around the runways, also funded by an FAA grant.
The largest project beyond the airport is the $436,000 proposed for dredging Slip 1, where log ships dock to take on timber from longshoremen and Astoria Forest Products.The Port projects spending $150,000 on Pier 3 stormwater treatment, although its master capital plan estimates the project costing $6.5 million in total.
