Port approves budget with operating losses

Port of Whitman commissioners Monday adopted a $2,960,600 budget for 2010 that will need tax receipts to offset operating expenses for the second time this decade.

The port’s 2010 budget is down four percent from the $3,092,500 2009 budget. Biggest reason for the drop is lower lease revenues.

Port officials expect vacancies in port buildings to drop revenue by $130,000.

That will push operating receipts down to $899,000, while operating expenses are expected to total $1,030,000.

The gap will be covered out of the port’s tax levy income, which will be $1,040,000, up $30,000 from this year’s lev...