PETITION AUTHORIZES PORT OF VANCOUVER TO PUT IDD LEVY ON BALLOT (5/14/07)

For Immediate Release

VANCOUVER, Wash.-The Port of Vancouver USA commission has been authorized by port district voters to place its Industrial Development District (IDD) levy on the primary election ballot, according to results of a petition canvass completed today by the Clark County Auditor’s Office.

A total of 9,659 signatures were deemed valid from 11,321 petition signatures canvassed by elections personnel.

“We fully appreciate that the community, through their grassroots efforts to gather signatures on the petition, wants to vote on this tax,” said Port of Vancouver USA Executive Director Larry Paulson. “Our Board of Commissioners is now authorized to place this on the August 21 primary ballot.”

The port’s ballot measure will propose a temporary property tax increase that will raise funds for the Port of Vancouver USA to create up to 1,900 maritime and industrial jobs through the purchase and development of the Alcoa-Evergreen properties. It will also develop essential rail facilities that will allow the port to continue to service current businesses, and new rail-dependent development.

Port district voters will have the opportunity to decide whether to approve this additional property tax, which will raise up to $78 million over six years before its sunset in 2013, during the August 21 primary election.

“If we don’t get the money,” Paulson said, “the full purchase of Alcoa-Evergreen may not happen, but the rail project will still need to go through the property.

“Additionally, lack of this funding source may compromise the rail project and hamper existing port operations, overall growth opportunities and development at the port.”

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The Port of Vancouver, USA, created by Clark County taxpayers in 1912, is one of the major ports on the Pacific Coast. Its competitive strengths include available land, versatile cargo handling capabilities, vast transportation networks, a dependable labor force and an exceptional level of service to its customers and community.

- POV -