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Page 38 - Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023
Port of Grapeview agrees to sales tax funding
By Kirk Boxleitner A
kbox/eitnei@masoncounnzcom
The Port of Grapeview completed
a hectic agenda of new business Dec.
20 as port commissioners agreed to a
memorandum of understanding with
Mason County for rural county 0.09
sales tax funding in 2023.
Port Commissioner Jean Farmer
said the money has been available for
applications “for a while,” but the Bel-
fair sewer had precluded that money
from being available to the port.
Under the memo, the port will re-
ceive a $20,000 grant it can use to pay
for maintenance of its facilities. The
port must submit a budget for that
maintenance list to the county.
Port Manager Amanda Montgom-
ery said the port must pay its bills
before it can be reimbursed by the
county.
“We have to front the money,”
Montgomery said. “I submit the pa-
perwork. We pay the bill. They review
(the bill), then they reimburse us for
continued from page
The connections of the
roundabouts will allow new
local roads to be built by Ma-
son County, but adding the
roundabouts means more time
is needed for design and envi-
ronmental compliance.
“We fully understand some
will be disappointed by this
news,” the blog post reads.
“Please know that building a
new state route is a methodi-
cal process with many require-
ments that need to be met.
The addition of two round—
abouts requires work that will
extend the process. Although
these new improvements rep-
, resent a later-than-expected
timeline, the good news is the
Move Ahead Washington and
Connecting Washington fund-
ing coming from the state
Legislature ensures the lion’s
share of this project, includ-
ing some new improvements,
is funded.” ,
.The main elements of the
project - including the 6-mile,
two lane alternate route par-
allel to state Route 3 .known
as the freight corridor -— are
still planned, according to the
blog post. The road is expected
to open in 2028 with the new
plans. A roundabout will con-
nect state Route 3 and South-
west Lake Flora Road in Kit-
sap County on the north end
of’ the project and two round-
abouts near North Mason
High School will connect with
state Route 3 at the south end.
“The new highway will al—
low travelers to have a quick-
er ride through Belfair. There
are few intersections, Iwhich
shortens travel time and re-
duces slowing or stopping traf-
fic,” according to the blog post.
“This is a complex project with p
it. Any (funding) that’s unused by the
last day of the year is lost.”
“We’ll make sure to use it all,”
Farmer said, laughing. “I’m sure that
won’t be a problem.”
Farmer went on to note that, for
reasons she did not know, the Port of
Grapeview is not a member of the Eco-
nomic Development Council of Mason
County, “but we should be.”
Farmer said she’s asked the Ma-
son County EDC’S executive director
to give the port a rotating position on
the EDC’s board, starting in 2024, be—
cause the EDC had already voted on
its board members for 2023.
Farmer proposed the port start a
basic membership in the EDC for $250
starting in January. Commission-
ers Art Whitson and Mike Blaisdell
agreed.
Volunteer Bob Pastore reported the
recommendations of the port’s Strate—
gic Planning Advisory Committee for “
launch and parking fees in 2023.
Pastore said the committee re-
viewed 75 area ports and their fees.
The committee recommended to the
commissioners that they retain all
their existing fees, except for reducing
kayak fees from $10 to $5 apiece.
Commissioners agreed they ‘were,
in Farmer’s words, “good with that.”
Montgomery raised concerns.
“When we did the budget, you bud-
geted the kiosk income based on a
rate increase,” Montgomery said. “You
asked that I increase the kiosk rev-
enue to reflect an increase in the an-
nual pass and/or parking. If you’re opt-
ing not to do that, obviously, it’s fine,
but it will not reflect the increased
funds that you requested I add to the
budget.”
Pastore said projected and actu-
al budgets often differ. Montgomery
added, “As the person who manages
the money and the kiosk, I would be
remiss in my duties if I did not remind
the board that they opted to discuss
raising the fees, and all, I’m doing is
reminding them.”
Blaisdell responded by recalling
that Montgomery had earlier reported
' many moving parts. We know We’re thankful for your pa—
regular users of SR 3 through tience as we work to bring this
Belfair are hoping for relief project to life.”
from the daily congestion.
For email updates about
the year-to-date kiosk gross revenue
as $12,592.23, whereas for the 2023
budget, Montgomery had forecast an
anticipated kiosk revenue of $12,000.,
“So we actually took in more this
year than we budgeted,” Blaisdell said.
“So I would expect that we should at
least get what we did (this past) year,
which was $12,500, which would still
be over what you budgeted.”
Farmer concurred with Blaisdell,
adding, “If we can explain to the public
why we don’t meet, or why we exceed,
our budget, (because the public) is who
we answer to, then I think we’re good.”
Farmer further noted, “If we really
need to, we can do a budget adjust-
ment to a line-item.”
Blaisdell noted the many other
ports the SPAC researched, and con-
cluded that “a lot of work went into
that, so if those are the results that
came back, I’m inclined to accept their
recommendation.” .
Whitson made' the commissioners’
approval of the‘SPAC’s recommenda—
tions unanimous.
Bypass: Construction begins 2026, completion by 2028 *
The intersection of state Route 300 and state Route 3 in Belfair. Hera/d
file photo by Justin Johnson
the-SR 3 freight corridor and
other WSDOT projects, sign
up for email updates at ti-
nyurl.com/y4ttjpxx. L
torequest $500,000 for Allyn’s pilings ;
continued from page 37
Cocci followed up J acksoh’s point about recruit-
. ing support from others by'calling for a letter of sup-
port for a pier project, endorsed by various commu-
nity organizations, “and we need to get that into our
delegation as soon as possible.”
While Cocci volunteered to draw up the letter,
she explained she would rely on port officials to en-
list the formal support of such organizations and ob-
tain their logos in the process.
When Jackson suggested contacting other ports
with.”
was $2 to $3 million.
Cocci intends to request $500,000 to conduct plan—
. ning for the Port of Allyn’s pilings to be replaced,
that have conducted recent pier replacements, Cop-
pola noted he’s contacted the Port of Anacortes to,
further refine “what would be a number to start
Coppola was mayor of Port 'Orchard during its
apprommately $700,000 pier replacement roughly
a decade ago, but he and Cocci agreed the Port of
Anacortes was more comparable to the Port of Al-
lyn, and she estimated Anacortes’ pier replacement
tion Office.
and floated the option of the port commissioners
supplementing those funds by applying for a bien—
nial grant from the state Recreation and Conserva-
“I think that is more than enough for us to ask for
this session,” Cocci said. “It might not happen this
session, but we’re going to try our hardest.
“Showing our legislators that We’re making
movement on our other capital budget awards
always shows them that we’re getting some-
project.”
thing done, andwe want to move on to‘ the next