Guide to the Port of Everett

No entity has controlled and shaped Everett’s waterfront more than the Port of Everett. The port’s mission is to grow businesses and jobs, and it does that by creating opportunities for others to make money. For example, a business could lease a space at the port’s boatyard to repair boats. The port also makes its own money running four shipping terminals. It owns 3,000 acres and manages the biggest public marina on the West Coast.

Properties

The people of Everett voted to create the special government entity in 1918. In the early years, the port shipped wood products churned out by the city’s waterfront mills. Today, the port’s niche is handling large items for manufacturing and construction, such as aerospace assemblies and wind-energy components.

Taxes

The port’s operations are self-supporting. But the port taxes property owners to help pay for capital projects. The port levies a tax of 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. This generates $4.1 million annually. The port’s taxing district lines were drawn up nearly a century ago and have been expanded only once since — to include Hat Island. Last year, district lines were shifted so that each now touches a waterfront community. Those boundaries encompass most of Everett and parts of Mukilteo and unincorporated Snohomish County.

Finances

This year’s budget is $40 million, with $26.4 million dedicated to operations and the rest slated for capital improvements and environmental cleanup. Any unspent income is carried over to the next year or invested in capital improvements. In the past five years (2006-10), the port has spent $110.5 million on more than 2,000 construction projects. The largest include the Mount Baker Terminal, a new marina, a rebuilt bulkhead and a $10 million Waterfront Center. That last project was supposed to be paid for by a private developer as part of the failed Port Gardner Wharf project. When that fell apart in 2007, the port decided the building was essential for the Craftsman District and ponied up the money.

The souring economy affected the port’s bottom line the past several years. In 2009 and 2010, the port made only about a half-million dollars — a significant drop from 2007, when income was a $5.7 million. In 2011, the port cut six positions through attrition and layoffs, and raised property taxes — although taxpayers actually pay less per household because there are more taxpayers in the district ($84 dollars for the average household in 2010 and $78 in 2012).

Port of Everett finances at a glance

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012*
Operating revenue $17,811,804 $20,807,227 $22,706,222 $22,958,508 $21,837,063 $25,341,714 $26,435,489
Operating expenses $13,750,596 $14,827,213 $15,824,325 $16,495,505 $16,324,635 $17,854,452 $18,569,344
Income before depreciation $4,061,208 $5,980,014 $6,881,897 $6,463,003 $5,512,428 $7,487,262 $7,866,145
Income with depreciation $278,058 $2,147,097 $2,150,976 $1,404,344 $(692,167) $1,095,160 $1,201,806
Non-operating revenue $6,042,410 $5,296,583 $5,062,161 $4,980,684 $4,399,362 $3,849,732 $4,222,500
Non-operating expenses $1,394,596 $1,737,914 $10,717,024 $5,783,349 $3,190,106 $1,982,323 $2,401,477
Non-operating income $4,647,814 $3,558,669 $(5,654,863) $(802,665) $1,209,256 $1,867,409 $1,821,023
Total income $4,925,871 $5,705,766 $(3,499,091) $601,679 $517,089 $2,962,569 $3,022,828

* Approved budget

NOTE: In 2008, a new accounting requirement forced the port to count environmental cleanup expenses as a liability, rather than as part of the capital budget. Its bottom line that year showed a $3.4 million loss. But without that adjustment, the port would have brought in nearly $3 million income.

Leadership

Three elected commissioners govern the port, serving six-year terms. Each earns $500 per month, plus $104 per meeting attended. Annual compensation per commissioner cannot exceed $12,535.

District 1: Troy McClelland of Everett, who is CEO of Economic Alliance Snohomish County (2010-15).

District 2: Tom Stiger of Everett, who has worked in shipping and commercial fishing (2012-17).

District 3: Michael Hoffmann of Everett, who runs Hoffmann Architectural Design (2008-13).

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Lynnwood
Crash in Lynnwood blocks Highway 99 south

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, fully blocked southbound lanes. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.