Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
The Port of Hoodsport’s budget hearing last week saw its port commissioners unanimously approve all three budget-related measures, which included a $40,000 transfer of money to the port’s parks and a $5,000-per-year increase in the annual contracted fee for Port of Allyn Executive Director Kathleen Wyatt.
Wyatt outlined the specifics of next year’s port budget.
Wyatt said the port’s ending balance for 2022 had originally been projected at $95,956, but its true ending balance for 2022, and therefore the beginning balance for 2023, is set to be $101,737, “nearly $6,000 over and above what we projected.”
The port’s revenues for 2023 are projected to be $156,726, which includes moving $40,000 from the port’s investment account, set aside specifically for the Hoodsport trail park and disc golf course, over to the port’s general account so that money can be used for operating expenses, maintenance and improvements for those parks.
The investment account itself includes timber revenues from the ongoing removal of trees at 80 acres of parkland. Those timber revenues can only be used for those parks.
“We have $102,649 in projected property tax levies for 2023, which is an increase of 1%,” Wyatt said. “Property values have increased over the last few years, but the levy rate for the port has steadily decreased annually. In 2019, the levy rate was 21 cents per $1,000 of assessed value of property taxes and 19 cents in 2022. And according to the assessor’s office, the estimated 2023 property tax levy amount has increased by 1%, which it’s done for the last 10 years.”
Other port revenues include boat moorage, timber tax, facility-use deposits, investment earnings and “sometimes miscellaneous” levy refunds and small agency money, which Wyatt noted “trickles in from the county, so you never know what they’ll be, whether it’s $60 here or $35 there.”
Because the port’s expenditures for 2023 are also projected to be $156,726, not only is its balance for the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 projected at $101,737, but so too is its ending balance for 2023, also projected at $101,737, which Wyatt cited as “a balanced budget.”
Wyatt said the port’s revenue projections in the past have been “a couple of thousand dollars off,” albeit in the direction of underestimating larger-than-expected revenues. Commissioner Lori Kincannon pointed out factors such as property tax levies, timber excise taxes and investment interest are conditions the port has “no control over,” thereby complicating its calculations.
“Everything else is right on the button,” Kincannon said. “We’re really good. Good budgeting, Kathleen. You’re definitely underpaid for what you do.”
“We have a very small budget, so we each have to wear a lot of hats,” Wyatt said. “So far, it’s working.”
Commissioner Cody Morris asked whether ports get any money from lodging taxes. Wyatt replied the Port of Hoodsport does not, because “we used to apply for it, and they shot us down, every single time.”
Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
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