Washington Public Ports Association Annual Meeting Provides Opportunity for New Regional Port Authority

The Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) held its annual meetings Wednesday through Friday of last week in Tacoma.

The WPPA is a member organization that represents the 75 port districts throughout the state. It primarily does government relations work within Olympia to make sure the port districts have the resources and flexibility within the state's laws to undertake economic development.

Port of Chelan County Executive Director Jim Kuntz said consolidating the ports of Chelan and Douglas County into the larger Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority has created more opportunity. The port authority now has an even greater interest in aligning themselves with entities like the Washington State Department of Transportation's Aviation Division and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"They were a little bit aware of the functional consolidation, but we were able to update them." explained Kuntz, "I think that they concurred that this will be an organization that can be very effective and I think they have interest in investing in us and the airports that we own. I think the meetings will result in some additional grant funding opportunities for all the airports that we own and manage."

Much of Kuntz's focus involved the upcoming short legislative session in Olympia in January and making sure that the WPPA's legislative agenda will benefit our region.

"In addition, when we're at these meetings we meet with a lot of state agencies in order to further our agenda." Kuntz added, "For instance, we met with the Washington State Department of Transportation's Aviation Division and talked about potential grant fundings, for not only Pangborn Airport, but what could be available for Waterville and Mansfield airports."

Local port employees also met with the FAA regarding the Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority's five-year capital plan and how the FAA could potentially participate in that.

Proposed state legislation of interest appears to involve tax increment financing (TIF). TIF is a public method of providing a subsidy to pay for economic development by forgoing future revenue from real estate tax increases from nearby property.