Port Of Seattle: We're Cruising!
What it is, see, is we have this Google news alert set for "Port of Seattle" and "confederacy of dunces." We're always surprised at how often we get sent something.
This post represents a round-up, but we'll start with latest news first, per the Seattle P-I's Kristen Millares Bolt:
- The Port wants to reconvert Terminal 30, which it converted to a cruise ship building in 2003 for $18 million, back to a container facility, for $59 million. The Port will not have recouped the 2003 conversion costs.
The Port wants to spend $60 million on Terminal 91, to make it a cruise ship building -- a move back to their original plan, foiled by "slow" permitting due to the Army Corps of Engineers' input.
The Port plans to raise $68 million from King County property taxes in 2007, $6 million more than this year.
Meanwhile, weeks after voting to make Port CEO Mic Dinsmore the most overpaid Port executive in the nation, for "outstanding" performance, the Port has lost its biggest shipping customer. Oops.
Additionally, there's the news that container volume has fallen 5% this year compared to last year -- while Portland, Tacoma, and Vancouver port business is trending up.
The Port would likely dismiss these concerns as "not material," the same way they dismissed their auditor's report that of "the $62 million in taxpayer money the Port received last year, nearly $11 million was misclassified in the Port's accounting."
The Port's argument was -- seriously -- that with an annual operating budget of $420 million, if $10 million goes astray here or there...hey, let's not nitpick. "The audit for 2005 is a testament to the diligent and thorough work of the Port's accounting and financial management team," they said.
And that's what's infuriating about the Port, if you're wondering. If you pay any attention to its inner workings, it's hard to avoid coming to the conclusion that it's a rogue operation, actively resisting oversight. Its management culture seems to have devolved into an old boys' club, with all the attendant backscratching and skids-greasing.
In itself, that's bad enough -- but it's a publicly funded institution. If it's a money-losing embarrassment, it happens to be robbing King County taxpayers in the process.
