Vancouver, Wash. residents easily defeat increased port tax

Vancouver, Wash. residents easily defeat increased port tax    Washington state voters Tuesday soundly defeated a proposed property tax increase to pay for development at the Port of Vancouver.
   Port district residents voted 2 to 1 against the Industrial Development levy that would have doubled existing port taxes for homeowners and raised $78 million for the Washington port during the six-year lifespan of the tax.
   Unlike many ports on the West Coast, the Port of Vancouver is supported in part by a property tax on port district residents. The proposed tax would have seen the average port district homeowner's current port tax rate of 33.7 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value more than double to about 79 cents.
   The defeat of the tax now puts the port's 544-acre Columbia Gateway development project into question and will require the port's three-member governing commission to develop either a scaled back version of the plan or come up with alternative funding scheme.
   The port had planned to use $48.2 million of the increased tax revenue to purchase 218 waterfront acres of the Gateway property, as well as provide $29.8 million for rail access to the property.
   Scandinavian ocean carrier Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Americas and Olympia-based Rappaport Energy Consulting recently signed deals to be the first Gateway tenants. Wallenius' plans call for the development of a $453 million auto terminal. Rappaport hopes to build a $210 million ethanol plant.
   However, both deal were contingent on the port developing rail access to the Columbia Gateway site and passage of the tax increase Tuesday.
   In February, Vancouver port commissioners approved the tax increase, but residents launched a successful signature-gathering campaign to force the tax onto Tuesday's primary election ballot.