Long Beach port approves reduced spending in budget

Long Beach port approves reduced spending in budget    The Port of Long Beach on Monday night approved a fiscal year 2010 budget with 13.6 percent reduction in spending, but includes $369 million in capital improvement projects.
   The budget “reflects the sluggish state of world trade and reduced cargo revenue but maintains the port's aggressive investment in environmental projects,” the port said in a statement.
   Nearly $96 million of the $881 overall budget is dedicated to environmental measures.
   Of the $369 million in capital expenditures, $54 million will go toward the first phase of construction of the Middle Harbor Redevelopment project, formally approved last week. That long-planned project will see two aging container terminals combined into one larger, more efficient terminal.
   Another $26 million is committed toward replacing the Gerald Desmond Bridge, which spans a key channel in the port and need replacing.
   About $68 million was approved for security and security-related projects.
   The reduction in spending is vital, given that the port is forecasting a 16 percent drop in revenue in 2009, on top of a significant drop last fiscal year. The port’s fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
   The port said much of the projected reduction in spending for the coming year will be from reduced costs in administering the port’s Clean Trucks Program.
   “Conceived as a mostly port-funded enterprise, the program has turned out in this current fiscal year to be based mostly on private transactions, thanks to changes in Clean Truck Fee exemptions,” the port said.