While property owners are likely to see a rise in their property taxes from Whatcom County, they will not see an increased tax from the Port of Bellingham.
Port of Bellingham commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, Nov. 19, to approve the 2025 budget. Missing from the final budget was a proposed property tax increase of 1% going into the new year.
Commissioners Bobby Briscoe and Ken Bell nixed the idea during the first public hearing on the budget on Nov. 5.
“After what we’ve seen county-wide happen to folks’s pockets with the increase to their property values and taxes they have to pay, I’m not interested in raising any taxes at this point in time,” Briscoe said.
The proposed tax increase would’ve brought in an additional $82,000 in taxes. The total tax collection would have been $8.2 million.
Instead, property owners will pay 12 cents on every $1,000 of valuation. That means, the port is estimated to bring in a lump sum of $7.9 million from property tax receipts in 2025.
But taxpayers will still save a little money as more people move to Whatcom County and contribute to the port’s property tax revenue base.
“The amount an individual house will pay will decrease because that lump sum is divided by more houses as we grow,” said Rob Fix, the port’s executive director, during the second hearing on Nov. 19.
The vast amount of the budget comes from other sources of revenue the port controls.
The port is expecting a decrease in operational revenues in 2025 after it lost a major airline carrier at the Bellingham International Airport over the summer and continued construction on the shipping terminal. Overall, the port is anticipating $28.7 million coming in.
Because Southwest’s departure in August represented 40% of Bellingham International Airport’s revenue, the Aviation Division is expected to bring in just under $6 million in revenue in 2025, about a 35% drop from 2024. Aviation makes up just over 20% of the port’s revenue. Southwest said the primary reason for its departure was a lack of aircraft due to slow Boeing deliveries.
Meanwhile, the shipping terminal is going through two years of improvements. Those improvements are anticipated to be finished sometime in 2025.
Bell was confident on Nov. 5 that the port could find other ways to make up revenue rather than depending on taxpayers.
In the past, the port’s property tax accounted for 2% of a person’s total property tax bill. Property owners tend to pay more in taxes for school and City of Bellingham costs.
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated revenue from a proposed tax increase. The port would’ve collected an additional $82,000 in taxes bringing the total tax collection to $8.2 million. This story was updated to reflect the change at 9:51 a.m. Nov. 20, 2024. Cascadia Daily News regrets the error.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
