Jefferson County voters made history this year when they approved the Port of Port Townsend’s Industrial Development District levy for capital improvement projects.

According to James Thompson, director of the Washington Public Ports Association, in his memory, this is the first Industrial Development District (IDD) levy that has ever passed a public vote since the legislation was first introduced in the 1960s.

“Levies are just hard to pass,” Thompson said. “Your port has a very compelling story and a populace that sees the value in it.”

It isn’t the first time the port has levied a tax and it isn’t the first time any port in all of Washington has levied a tax. But typically, unless a challenge is signed by eight percent of the voting base, industrial development taxes don’t have to be submitted to the voters for approval.

So when 2,000 signatures were sent to the county auditor’s office last summer asking for a public vote on the port’s announcement that they wanted to levy a tax, port commissioners and officials were worried it might not pass.

“It was something that was very frustrating because once we found out it was going to be on the ballot, we couldn’t do anything,” said Jim Pivarnik, interim director of the port. “We couldn’t campaign, we just had to sit back and watch how it played out.”

State law says port officials may not campaign or offer any opinions on the proposition that is on the ballot. Even when asked directly by citizens, Pivarnik said he and other port officials could not recommend that they vote to approve the proposition.

“I couldn’t say a word,” he said. “I could only tell people to look at the facts. If you’re being paid by the port, you can’t be a proponent for a tax increase.”

The port’s single opportunity to reach the public was through a factual insert sent out in both The Leader and the Peninsula Daily News, which explained only the facts: How much could be levied against property, when it would be taxed and how long the tax would last.

While port officials’ hands were tied, the commission was debating whether or not to rescind the resolution announcing the levy.

“The commissioners were getting a lot of pressure to rescind it,” Pivarnik said. “My strategy all along was to just see how it played out. Even if it didn’t pass, it would be information for us to see where our strength in support was throughout the county.”

Ultimately, the commissioners decided to stick with it.

“There was never any dissent about whether we needed to do this,” said Bill Putney, commission chair. “But I didn’t see any tactical advantage to taking it off the ballot.”

While port officials could not use any resources or even speak in favor of the proposition, Putney got to work setting up what he joked was a “lecture circuit.”

There was no money to be spent in campaigning. Instead, Putney’s strategy was to get out in the community and speak to people about the levy and the port. He met with the Jefferson County Rotary, the Port Ludlow community, the Kala Point community. He spoke on KPTZ’s Tossed Salad radio show, went down to Quilcene to talk with citizens, and more.

“I thought, ‘Even if it’s not going anywhere, maybe we’ll get to go out and talk with people about the port and why this institution is so important to the county,’” Putney said. “I give our county a lot of credit. We turn out, we vote, we participate. And we take a pragmatic look at what we’re voting for.”

Pivarnik said he is glad the port commissioners decided not to rescind the levy.

“If we would’ve rescinded this we wouldn’t have been doing the will of the people,” Pivarnik said.

“It really speaks to the passion this community has for the port. A lot thought this would pass in Port Townsend, but it was a county-wide vote.”

NOW WHAT?

Now the port commission has a lot of work to do.

The port is in the midst of drafting a comprehensive scheme of harbor improvements. This includes details on all the infrastructure improvements the port needs, including the Point Hudson jetty replacement, the Quilcene marina dredging and dock replacement, the Boat Haven breakwater updates and C and D dock replacements, among many others.

Pivarnik said he hopes to present the first draft of this document to the port commissioners at their Dec. 11 meeting.

He hopes that will be the document that guides the commissioners through their decision-making for how to spend the money brought in by the new tax.

They also will need to decide how much to tax. The maximum amount that can be taxed is $15 million over a period of 20 years. They don’t have to levy a tax every year, but Pivarnik said staff is likely going to recommend they tax 13 cents per thousand of assessed value for 20 years.

This would amount to around $809,000 per year.

In terms of capital projects, that is only a small dent in projects that, like the Point Hudson jetty, could cost up to $5 million.

But the port plans to use the tax revenues as seed money. For projects like the jetty, they can apply for grants and use the tax revenue as matching funds, often a requirement of federal and state funds. Agencies want to see local effort on behalf of a project before releasing grant funds.

Ultimately, nothing will be decided without community input, Pivarnik said. In January, he hopes the commission will work together, along with new commissioner Pam Petranek, to start up a Citizen Advisory Committee to provide input.

“We do know this money needs to be put in a separate account for this year,” Pivarnik said. “Until 2021, when we will have more of a strategy for how to implement some of these plans.”

Ultimately, the decision for how much to tax and what to use the money for comes down to the elected commission, which includes Bill Putney, Pete Hanke, and Petranek.

“It’s up to us to be deliberate and demonstrate to people that their confidence in us was well placed,” Putney said.