A workshop for the Port of Bremerton’s 2010 budget turned tense Wednesday night as Commissioner Larry Stokes made his frustration with what he called “fluff” items apparent.
“I am not happy, I am flat-out irritated,” Stokes said. “The cold, hard facts are every facility we have is losing money. It is high time we got more conservative and did our homework.”
Stokes said he could “cut $750,000 (out of the budget) in a pair of seconds,” and pointed to items like a proposed soccer field ($135,000) in the South Kitsap Industrial Area and floating restrooms ($100,000 each) at both the Port Orchard and Bremerton marinas as particularly egregious.
“Spending $165,000 so that someone can go out and exercise when we got marinas that are losing money every day … this is nothing more than a (recipe) for bankruptcy,” he said. “I am tired of answering the public’s questions as to why we’re building a soccer field.”
Tim Thomson, the port’s director of real estate and industrial park development, said the soccer field — now imagined for the land where Pod 1 of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development was to be — was just one idea staff had to attract more business tenants.
“We haven’t leased out any ground in the industrial park for at least 5 to 6 years,” said port Chief Executive Officer Cary Bozeman. “We have to offer things that tenants are going to see as good for their employees.”
Commissioner Bill Mahan said he felt the port was “heading on the right track” by considering adding a soccer field.
“We’re trying to compete with other industrial parks, and there’s a ton of them,” Mahan said.
Bozeman agreed. “If we want to get competitive, we need to invest in some infrastructure. We can continue down the same path, or we can upgrade our facilities.”
Stokes also balked at the idea of buying “floating restrooms” for the Bremerton and Port Orchard marinas.
“We’re trying to improve the port’s image, and you’re thinking about buying restrooms that float,” Stokes said. “I don’t get it. What’s it going to look like to the public?”
Steve Slaton, the port’s director of marine facilities, said the floating restrooms would be much closer to the boats and offer more toilets during busy summer weekends.
“We get complaints that it’s a long walk to the restrooms,” Slaton said, adding that he did not expect the floating restrooms to create a large liability concern. “These will also facilitate larger groups visiting, and will help during events like the Chris Craft Festival. A lot of those boats are older and don’t have modern facilities.”
Stokes also questioned why the port would $50,000 to remodel the Airport Diner when it only received $1,150 in rent every month.
“Does that seem like a good business investment to you?” he asked Thomson.
“I believe it’s important for the airport to have a good restaurant, so I would say yes,” Thomson replied.
“We can’t let a facility become depleted and unhealthy and unsafe — those are just not good business practices,” Bozeman said. “We either have to maintain (the restaurant) or close it. The restaurant is not here to make money, it is here to augment what we’re doing here.”
Chief Financial Officer Becky Swanson said the budget presented Wednesday night was only preliminary, and no items were set in stone.
“The purpose of this meeting was to present all ideas,” Swanson said.“This was to stimulate discussion and find out the commissioners’ wants and priorities.”
“This is a great time for you to offer your feedback,” Board Chair Cheryl Kincer told Stokes. “They’re going to take it and come back.”
Swanson said the budget needed to be finalized and approved by November, and that a draft would be presented for approval at the board’s Oct. 27 meeting.
She described the budget as “very close to being naturally balanced,” meaning it did not “dip into reserves,” yet did have $39,538 more in expenditures than revenues — $16.62 million and $16.58 million, respectively.
