Here is a summary for how we are finishing this challenging year (thru November).

Airport passenger traffic is down only 3.5 percent, much less of a decline  than many other airports

Marine cargo through November is down 9.7%.  As a comparison, Tacoma is down 16.5%, L.A. is down 15.4% and Long Beach is down 24.5%.

 The Port of Seattle’s total operating revenue for the first eleven months of 2009 was $432.5M or 3.1% under budget.

However, total operating expense was 14.3% under budget

Net Operating Income (NOI) before Depreciation was $215.2M, or 11.6% over budget

In addition, starting in 2010, the seaport, like the airport, will cover its own capital costs from its own profits and will no longer rely on the property tax levy. 

For 2010, the port commission reduced the property tax levy.

If you have a question or comment, please send it to me via my website, www.BillBryant.info

Regards,

Commissioner Bill Bryant

During 2009, the port commission emphasized the need for the port to maintain net operating income despite falling revenues.

To accomplish that, in 2009, the commission and port CEO Tay Yoshitani:
• implemented zero based budgeting
• eliminated programs that didn’t meet current needs
• required two week unpaid furloughs
• cut payroll 6% (110 positions)
• revised the medical program to require employees to contribute more
• cut an additional 5.6% from the budget throughout 2009.

These were not easy decisions, but we are not there to make easy decisions; we are there to solve problems and set policies that will help our port be a competitive, environmentally sustainable, job generating engine for our region.

On November 23rd, the port commission did that by passing another fiscally responsible budget. This 2010 budget adds to environmental reserves, creates a new $40 million+ infrastructure and transportation reserve AND CUTS PROPERTY TAXES.

The 2010 reduced port property tax will be spent as follows:

• A little over $40 million on bond debt service for previous dredging, terminal expansion and Fisherman’s Terminal seawall renewal projects
• Over $15 million on road projects including expansion of Spokane Street viaduct, overpasses near Safeco Field, East Marginal Way improvements and freight projects in the Kent Valley
• About $13 million into transportation & infrastructure reserves
• Over $8 million into environmental projects
• Over $9 million for new school construction in the Highline School District (near SeaTac)
• Over $19 million on projects including seawall replacement, dock repair and improvements, storm water upgrades, and environmental initiatives.

Just as important, from 2010 forward, the seaport will cover its capital costs from its own net operating income and will not rely on property taxes.

Executive sessions are now kept to a minimum and we are the only entity in the state that tapes its executive sessions.  The briefing materials port commissioners receive prior to meetings now are also posted on the website for the public.  The commission has taken back some responsibilities that had been ceded to the CEO.  Contracting is centralized and nearly all contracts must move through a consistent and open process that involves public review and commission oversight.  Public meetings are held around the county to encourage participation from a broad array of stakeholders and interests.

It is now our responsibility to ensure these reforms increase our efficiency and competitiveness.

While the ports of Seattle and Tacoma over the last decade have invested to increase their cargo capacity, and while increasing cargo capacity would create new jobs in King and Pierce counties, that growth cannot come at the expense of the Sound.  That is why the port commission has been working closely with the Puget Sound Partnership on developing benchmarks that will help define the current health of Elliott Bay and that can be used to evaluate the possible impact of future maritime activity.

To watch a discussion between Puget Sound Partnership’s Executive Director David Dicks and the port commissioners on how the Port of Seattle and the Puget Sound Partnership can work collaboratively, click here.

According to a March 2009 study by professors at Seattle University and the University of Washington, King County’s maritime industries employ almost 17,000 people, many of whom are paid over $70,000 as year.

Just as important, the maritime industries support employment of over 60,000 workers in King County and generate over $10 billion in revenues.

To keep these jobs in King County, the Port of Seattle needs to continue supporting the North Pacific fishing fleet at Fisherman’s Terminal and appropriately using our industrial lands, and needs to work with local, state and federal authorities to ensure we have the road and freight infrastructure needed to move cargo to the Mid-West faster and more reliably than our competitors.

For a copy of the report on Seattle’s maritime cluster, click here.

While the ports of Seattle and Tacoma have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade transforming mid twentieth century ports into globally competitive twenty-first century ports, our state needs a twenty-first century freight transportation system if the Port of Seattle is to remain a competitive job generating engine for King County.

That is why the Port of Seattle is involved in the construction of 519, the expansion of the Spokane Street Viaduct and of West Marginal Way, the redevelopment of SR99 and the bored tunnel, and freight related traffic improvements in Kent and Auburn.

Jobs in King County depend on a road and transit system that moves people and freight efficiently.

To learn how many King Co. jobs depend upon the Port of Seattle, click here.

Those jobs are in businesses that exist because passengers and cargo move through SeaTac and Elliot Bay. That makes the port one of our region’s largest job generators. Now, the port itself isn’t employing 111,000 people; it only has about 1,700 people on payroll, but even if you only counted the jobs directly related to Fisherman’s Terminal, cruise ships, SeaTac and our sea container yards, you’d still count over 40,000 people who owe their jobs to port facilities and operations.

A recent study documents billions of dollar in port-induced payroll moving through King County and calculates that port operations generate over $800 million in state and local taxes.

Our port is a job generating engine. In economic times like these it is even more critical we keep this engine running efficiently and for all our benefit.

To learn more about how many jobs the Port of Seattle generates across Washington State, click here.

The port’s operations are entirely supported by port revenues. Tax dollars are used to support bonding for long term capital investments, and for projects that will not return a profit, such as removing PCB’s from Puget Sound or helping the state build a new overpass.

I have requested the port develop a five year plan for reducing the maritime division’s reliance on the tax levy for support of long term capital investments, and instead rely more heavily on revenue bonds. This should provide more funds for transportation and environmental projects.

For more information on the budget and the levy, please click here

Bill Bryant talks about his vote to dredge PCB contaminated mud from port terminals and deposit it in a landfill rather than dumping it elsewhere in Puget Sound which would have been acceptable under current regulations.

Watch the King-TV interview ]]> http://www.billbryant.info/2009/04/bill-supports-removing-pcb-mud/feed/ 0