With the arrival of 2010, everyone in our industry is delighted to leave last year behind. With national unemployment hovering around 10 percent and everyone looking for creative methods to make their balance sheets look better than they really are, there are areas we must pay attention to for the next 365 days.
As a port person, I would like to comment on a topic that represents a concern for us all. That is the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund or as we “portsters” like to call it, the Harbor Maintenance Tax.
The HMT was originally authorized in the 1986 Water Resources Development Act as a tax on waterway users to pay for operations and maintenance of our commercial channels. The tax was intended to be based on the value of “imported” cargo but immediately drifted over to include “exports.” It was not until 1998 that the U.S. Supreme Court declared the export application feature unconstitutional in a unanimous decision.
However, as we fast forward, we find the HMT goes directly into the General Treasury and, as a result, the funds are not dedicated to cover the costs associated with harbor maintenance, which was its original purpose.
The last time I checked, the fund had a balance in excess of $4.7 billion, and recent collections that feed the HMT are about $1.5 billion per annum. The HMT balance is projected to be about $8 billion by year 2011.
HMT resources should be used for their original purpose of maintaining and dredging our nation’s seaports. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ budget seems to continually stagnate while dredging costs annually increase.
To be competitive, we ports must maintain our waterways. The vessel operators and owners of cargo depend on well-maintained harbors.
It would be nice if in year 2010 we see a legislative protective barrier built around the HMT and assure all users that the funds will be applied the way they were intended -- for the maintenance of our commercial seaports.