The Warren County Port Commission has authorized Stantec, the Board of Supervisors’ engineers, to work with WATCO, the company that operates the port, to develop a facilities plan to help commissioners set priorities for infrastructure repairs.

The commission’s decision came Monday during a budget work session, port director Wayne Mansfield said.

“We’ve got a lot of infrastructure needs,” he said. “We really need to analyze where we are, what we’re spending (money) on, where our revenues are and maximize revenue and minimize cost.

“The warehouses need work; this is a 50-plus year-old facility, and we need to close down cell one of our sewer lagoon in Ceres (industrial park) to work on it. We have a cost figure, it’s a matter of locating the funding and taking care of it.”

The port commission revenues come from several sources, Mansfield said.

“Our budget is generated through our contract with WATCO (which operates the port under a contract with the commission), we lease property for farming and get a percentage of the crop, revenue from timber cuts, hunting leases and fleet leasing, and the county participates in capital improvements projects,” he said.

The only building lease the port commission has is with tanning company TanTec in Ceres. All other properties in the port are privately owned with the exception of the terminal facilities.

Mansfield said initial projections indicate the Warren County Port Commission could see an estimated $750,000 to $770,000 in revenue for fiscal 2017, but he said that figure could be subject to change as the commission begins its discussions to develop a budget for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

He anticipates the budget will be approved when the commission meets July 18, adding the commission will present the budget to the Board of Supervisors in August.

“Although it (the port budget) is not part of the general fund, the board must approve it as part of its overall budget,” he said.

Mansfield said the Monday meeting went through the past three years’ budgets to give commissioners a comparison in terms of what they have spent in the past as a port commission on projects, what port revenues were like and to determine where the commissioners would like to apply some money.

Another topic for discussion was the port’s overhead crane, which damaged in a February fire and remains down. Mansfield said an update from WATCO indicated work on the crane is about 95 percent complete.

He said WATCO has been using a 150-ton mobile crane on the port’s T-dock to move cargo, adding business has been down at the port, “But I don’t believe it’s the result of the crane. Business is down up and down the river because of the economy, but I anticipate that to pick back up. We’re starting to see some expansion in ag-related business — fertilizer companies and new grain elevators being constructed.”