Port of Warden in good financial position, projects advancing
The exterior of the Port of Warden’s Office, located near the port’s Industrial property on the West and South sides of Warden. Port Commissioners approved the final 2024 budget during the Nov. 16 regular meeting.
FILE PHOTO
Port of Warden Executive Director Pat Millard said the primary focus of the port’s 2024 budget would be utilizing the $2.5 million in state appropriations funding it was approved for last April in order to construct an industrial truck bypass road to Warden’s industrial property, pictured, on the south edge of town.
WARDEN — The Port of Warden is in a good financial position according to the port’s Executive Director Pat Millard. The Port Commissioners approved the organization’s final budget at the Nov. 16 regular meeting after a public hearing.
Millard said the port’s total listed projected 2024 income and budget of about $3.2 million includes more than $2.5 million in grant money the port has received.
“(The grants are) capital budget items, so our actual budget is $634,807,” Millard said. “They’re not really income. I mean, they're income but they’re a different source of income.”
Millard said that the port’s budget doesn’t usually change drastically, but that it did go up this year not including the grants.
“Last year it was about $459,000 before grants,” she said.
Millard said that the Port is in a good position overall and should be able to implement its plans for 2024.
“We have some things out that do not reflect on this, which I may have to do an amended budget when they come through, but they're just not finalized, so I could not add them to this budget,” Millard said. “But it should bring in more income.”
Millard said the biggest project and focus for spending in 2024 would be the construction of an industrial bypass road to and from State Route 170. According to an April press release from the Port of Warden, the project received $2.5 million in Federal Highway Administration Funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. The release stated that the project’s purpose is to bypass trucks around residential neighborhoods to industrial-zoned properties on the south side of Warden.
“We're gonna have to go back and get more money,” Millard said. “Part of that road that's already there is the city’s, so we're gonna have to update that, so that's gonna cost more money. We're hoping we can go back and get some more federal grants to finish the road, because we have to go over the railroad tracks, and there's dirt to be moved, and it's just really expensive.”
Millard said that the port also plans on using about $150,000 of a multiyear Industrial Development District levy, which began in May 2023, for the 2024 budget. She said the port has the option of whether to levy these funds each year and that without a public vote it is limited at $0.45 per $1000 assessed evaluation of property taxes in the port’s district. The levy affects how much the port can collect, but since it is a regular property tax levy it does not apply to individual homes, according to the Washington Department of Revenue website.
Due to non-disclosure agreements, Millard said there are projects she can’t elaborate on that are coming down the road that might affect spending at the port.
“There's more projects in the pipeline,” Millard said. “And we've got some businesses that are thinking about coming to town, so one of them will buy our property and another one will buy somebody else's property, and we just have people looking all the time. It's really relating back to this original project that we're working on that we've signed the NDA with, and once we get that finalized, then everything will go forward.”
Speaking generally, Millard spoke about the future of the port, of Warden and of good things to come.
“I think it's gonna be great. I think we're going to see a lot of businesses land here, and they’re mostly food processing businesses, and that's kind of where we want to stay,” Millard said. “We also have this piece of property, this 33 acres that we have that we got annexed into the city. We've just got an appraisal on that, so we have a starting point of what we want to charge for this land, and hopefully, we'll have a developer that'll buy some or all of this property to build more houses.”
Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.
Port of Warden Executive Director Pat Millard said the primary focus of the port’s 2024 budget would be utilizing the $2.5 million in state appropriations funding it was approved for last April in order to construct an industrial truck bypass road to Warden’s industrial property, pictured, on the south edge of town.