BREMERTON — The Port of Bremerton’s proposed 2027 budget would more than double the size of last year’s, to $27.1 million, driven by $22.5 million in capital projects led by replacement of the Port Orchard Marina breakwater. The port property tax rate would not increase.
Chief Financial Officer Aaron Schielke presented the final preliminary budget Nov. 10. Commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on it at their next meeting, Nov. 24 at 10 a.m. at the port offices in the Bremerton National Airport terminal, 8850 SW State Highway 3. The meeting can also be joined on Zoom.
The breakwater, estimated at about $20 million, is the largest capital project the port has taken on in many years. Commission President Cary Bozeman called replacing the 40-year-old structure the port’s biggest financial challenge in two decades.
Bozeman said the breakwater must be replaced to keep the marina operational. The project has gone out to bid again.
To pay for the capital program, the port expects $14 million in grants and appropriations for three projects. Schielke said the largest grant, for the breakwater, is signed, while others have not yet been awarded. If those grants do not come through, he said, the port would have to make other plans or delay work.
The port also plans to draw $3 million from its $6.5 million in unrestricted reserves and $1.6 million from its $6.2 million stormwater reserve, borrow about $900,000, and put about $3.1 million from its annual operating surplus toward the projects.
One capital estimate rose since the first budget workshop. The Airport Way road project at the airport is now budgeted at $6.4 million, up from $4.8 million. Staff said the roughly 3,800-foot road would open about 200 acres for development, and the port will seek grants or appropriations to cover the higher cost.
The property tax levy would stay at about $4.5 million. Even without a rate increase, new construction and other factors would add about $73,000, Schielke said. Taking the 1% annual increase the port is allowed would have raised the levy to almost $5 million.
Operating revenues are budgeted to grow about 6%, including CPI-based increases on hangar, tie-down and ground leases at the airport and marina rate increases presented earlier this fall. Operating expenses would rise 3.7%.
Security patrols at both marinas would increase from five nights a week to seven. General and administrative costs would rise 9.2%, largely because of a $112,000 charge from the county for the 2027 commissioner election. That would be partly offset by a move to a two-year state audit cycle, which leaves no audit cost in 2027.
Spending on community activities would stay at about $60,000. The budget adds $5,000 for the Seabeck Community Club and $1,000 for Love Kitsap, and trims each commissioner’s discretionary allocation from $5,000 to $4,000 and Bremerton Bridge Blast from $8,500 to $7,000.
Commissioner Axel Strakeljahn asked the two largest recipients, the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance and the Bremerton Pilots Association, at $10,000 each, to show what the port gets for its money. “We’re happy to support the community, but we also would like some return,” he said.
A pilots association representative said all of the port’s contribution goes to the group’s youth aviation scholarship program, which aims to award 10 scholarships of $5,500 a year and pays out only after a recipient earns a pilot’s license. Joe Morrison, KEDA’s executive director, offered to present the alliance’s 2026 work and 2027 plans to commissioners.
Written comments on the budget can be sent to the Clerk of the Board at gingerw@portofbremerton.org.
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