Spokane County is one of two in Washington state that doesn't have a port district, and Greater Spokane Incorporated is exploring anew-nearly three decades after an unsuccessful bid-whether one should be created here.

GSI President and CEO Rich Hadley says the effort could be accelerated by another of the organization's initiatives, AIR Spokane, which is trying to attract a large aerospace manufacturer, such as Boeing Co., to one of two 300-acre sites near Spokane International Airport.

"We've been in conversations with a half dozen of those companies already, and we're at different stages of confirming their interest in Spokane," Hadley says.

A port district is a local taxing authority established to fund economic development and infrastructure that typically is centered on a particular site, such as an industrial complex, an airport, or a marina.

In Eastern Washington, Hadley says, port districts typically have formed after an event that had a major economic impact on a community. In Moses Lake, for example, community leaders formed a port district to develop the Larsen Air Force Base site after it shut down. In Walla Walla, a port district formed after McNary Dam was constructed on the Columbia River and flooded former industrial sites.

Here, a port district could be developed to help lure an aerospace manufacturer, rather than being created as a reaction to an economically cataclysmic event, such as losing an Air Force base.

"They all have a big project," Hadley says. "What's our big project going to be?"

In mid-August, GSI sponsored a two-day bus tour that took 22 people to port districts in Moses Lake, Walla Walla, and Richland, Wash.

Retired Journal of Business publisher Greg Bever, who is GSI's past chairman and volunteer chairman of the organization's port district committee, says the port districts that the group visited worked to recruit companies that provide living-wage jobs, had business incubators, and funded infrastructure projects.

"All of those things point to good opportunities for economic development for Spokane if we decide to move that direction," Bever says.

However, John Miller, chairman of Spokane-based commercial contractor Divcon Inc., says he also was on the tour and came out of it questioning whether forming a port district in Spokane would be a good idea. He says they are effective at their core mission of fostering economic development, but they do so by creating an additional government entity.

Also, he says, a port district could take development opportunity from private developers, such as him. Miller is involved in developing the Pinecroft Business Park, a commercial complex at 12310 E. Mirabeau Parkway in Spokane Valley in which about 330,000 square feet of floor space has been built and land for developing another 500,000 square feet of space is available.

Regarding a port district, Miller says, "It's tax driven. It's bureaucratic driven, and it's in direct competition with the private sector."

Also, he says, current tools such as a tax-increment financing, local-improvement districts, and other mechanisms currently used in the Spokane area can do some of the things port districts do without creating another government entity.

"In this environment, I think it would be very hard to get a public vote on it," Miller says.

In Washington state, port districts are operated by a three-person, elected board and supported in part by a property-tax levy of up to 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, which equates to $90 in property tax on a home with a $200,000 assessed value. Hadley says many ports don't exercise their maximum taxing authority. In the three ports GSI visited, the levy rate ranges from 37 cents to 43 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

In addition to tax money, port districts' revenue streams include service charges, lease fees, grants, and bonds.

Port-district advocates in Spokane last attempted to create such an authority here in 1984, and voters struck down that measure.

Bever says that at that time, voters might not have grasped fully what a port district would do or why it was significant. The term "port district," he says, conjures images of a seaport, which isn't relevant to an inland city such as Spokane.

If port advocates decide to move forward with a ballot measure, he says, "There's going to be a lot of education that needs to be done because there still is a lot of confusion."

State law calls for port districts to be countywide, but there are allowances for site-specific districts, Hadley says. As GSI continues to research the idea of forming a district here, he says, it will look at whether to suggest a countywide district or a smaller one.

A number of communities have multiple, small port districts. There are 76 port districts in Washington state in all, Hadley says.

A smaller district, he says, could include a large portion of the West Plains, including Spokane International Airport, Fairchild Air Force Base, the two large sites to which GSI is trying to attract an aerospace manufacturer, and other land.

A site-specific district might be an easier sell to a smaller group of voters than if a countywide measure was introduced, Hadley says. The downsides, he says, are that its benefit would be to a smaller area, and it would draw funds from a smaller tax base.

Even a small port district could benefit GSI's business-recruitment efforts, Hadley says. He says companies looking to move or expand often send requests for qualifications to communities. In some cases, one of the questions is whether the community has a port district.

"It's a checklist," Hadley says. "'Do you have these things?' And if you don't, you're out."

For example, Genie Industries Inc., which manufactures industrial lifts and booms, operates a large manufacturing facility in Moses Lake. Hadley says Genie had inquired about opening its plant in Spokane County.

"We competed on Genie and lost because we didn't have a port district," he says.

GSI is still researching port districts and plans to talk with other business groups to gauge their interest in the idea of forming one here.

There's isn't any sort of timeline in terms of placing a port-district proposal on the ballot, though Hadley says continuing to investigate the idea is a priority of the GSI board.

Bever says there's more research to be done, but from what he's seen thus far a port district would provide a boost for the entire business community.

"As an economic stimulus, that tide rises, and the boats rise with it," he says. "The more economic development we can stimulate, the better the economic opportunities for all of Spokane."