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Port of Vancouver Postpones Tax on Development Until at Least 2008

Posted on: Monday, 6 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By Bill Stewart, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Mar. 6--VANCOUVER -- A $60 million industrial development district tax, which the Port of Vancouver can trigger without a public election, has been delayed until at least 2008.

The special property tax, which would last six years, could provide about one-third of the cost to build Columbia Gateway industrial area near the Vancouver Lake Flushing Channel.

"The idea is not one I want to spring on taxpayers a month before it becomes official," said Brian H. Wolfe, the Port's newest commissioner. "Frankly, we are not ready, and I think it's premature to do it now. I want to be able to explain to the person on the street how it helps them."

The tax was approved last year but was immediately tabled for a year. Now the delay will stretch even longer as a result of action last week by the Port commissioners. Although the concept remains on the books as having been approved, it takes a special letter on June 1 of any year to trigger the start of six years of tax collections the following year. Commissioners have agreed not to send the letter to the county treasurer before June 1, 2007.

Larry Paulson, the Port of Vancouver's executive director, said the new delay gives the Port time for workshops and public information campaigns.

If triggered, the tax would collect as much as 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed value each year for six years. It would be in addition to an existing Port tax of 39 cents per $1,000 in assessed value. The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 now pays $78 in Port taxes; the extra levy would increase that to $168 for six years.

The Port can avoid the usual requirement for a public election because state law allows two six-year levies for industrial development. When the process was first approved in 1939, a public vote was not required for either six-year period. That first levy lasted from 1947 to 1953; the second six-year span was never started.

"This tax is very complex," Wolfe said. "When enacted, the money could be used only on an identified area. I am not sure the Port was thinking about the area we call Columbia Gateway back in 1947."

Wolfe said a public vote could be forced by petition with as few as 8 percent of the Port district's registered residents, but a vote is not automatic.

Environmental studies and development of perhaps three marine terminals plus other industrial lands -- about 500 acres total -- are expected to cost roughly $200 million.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Oregonian

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