Cash-strapped port gets "tide- over" loan from commissioners

Whitman County commissioners agreed to issue a reduced loan request from the Port of Whitman County Monday.

The port last month asked to borrow $1 million in .09 economic development funding reserves to provide liquid cash for projects that may soon be in the works. After balking at that initial request, county commissioners agreed Monday to lend the port $750,000 from its stash of .09 economic development funds.

Port director Joe Poire said the port is currently short on cash because of ongoing large projects like the fiber optic connection from Spokane to Clarkston and extending utilities service to its new industrial park in north Pullman.

The port is laying fiber cable under a federal stimulus grant to provide a high-speed data link between Spokane and Clarkston.

Poire said the port may be looking to run fiber optic cable to several businesses in Whitman County’s small towns. It may also need to help build projects to ramp up cell phone signals and to transmit research data from WSU to Spokane.

Commissioner Greg Partch noted the county has saved up more than $1.5 million in .09 funding with the intent of using it to pay off bonds for the Hawkins development.

The county has committed to pay for $15 million worth of infrastructure at Boise-based Hawkins Companies’ proposed 714,000-square-foot shopping center just on the Washington side of the state line in the Pullman-Moscow Corridor.

“We’ve actually factored that money into the Hawkins agreement,” said Partch.

The county-Hawkins agreement calls for the county to make reimbursement payments 90 days after Hawkins spending on infrastructure surpasses 10 percent of the estimated total.

The .09 funds derive from a portion of the state’s share of sales taxes. The state returns .09 percent of its revenue share from sales taxes generated in the county for economic development purposes.

Poire said the port realizes the county may need that money if construction on the Hawkins shopping center begins.

The port will repay the loan within one year at 2.25 percent interest.

Treasurer Bob Lothspeich said the county would typically receive about $450,000 in .09 funds this year. Extra tax revenue from construction sales tax at the Palouse Wind farm on Naff Ridge should bump that number up.

Commissioners have allocated $100,000 in .09 funds for the Blue Ribbon Advisory Tax Committee to award to local projects in Whitman County this year.