Port of Whitmanbudget drops after cable project

Without the boost of a federal telecommunications grant, the Port of Whitman County’s budget will fall back to just over $4 million in 2013.

Port commissioners unanimously approved the budget earlier this month.

The 2013 budget is a steep drop from the $11.4 million budget for 2012. The current year’s spending plan was boosted by revenue from the federal government, which repaid the port for laying 170 miles of high speed fiber optic cables in Whitman County.

That project is all but finished, and the port has signed three companies to lease access to the broadband network, which provides a hig...