No hard-and-fast numbers have been laid on the table yet, but Citrus County commissioners on Tuesday called for the creation of a budget line item for Port Citrus.

The county commission is also the Citrus County Port Authority, responsible for the development of the Cross Florida Barge Canal near Inglis, which was recently designated as Port Citrus, and created by the county commission and authorized by the state Legislature.

Now, the port must develop a budget. County Administrator Brad Thorpe said that a preliminary budget has been roughed out, but it will be presented to the commission at some later date.

The county also decided today to help fund the $11,260 the Port Authority will need to pay the dues for the yearly Florida Ports Council membership dues, which Citrus County has now joined. For now, the money is being treated as a "loan" from the Board of County Commissioners to the Citrus County Port Authority.

The two entities, although populated with the same county commissioners, administrator and attorney, must have separate budgets. Mixing monies between the two will have to be monitored, a fact that Citrus County Council President Theodora Rusniak reminded the county commissioners about.

Rusniak cautioned that the county needs to be particular when accounting for monies that go into the port's budgetary purse. "I 've have a lot of experience doing this," Rusniak said. "You don't want to get caught in an audit at a later date."

County Commissioner Joe Meek brought some new news to the commission on Tuesday, when he reported that the county Economic Development Council has voted to provide $25,000 toward paying for the Port Feasibility Study - $10,000 through private EDC funds and another $15,000 from the county's occupational license fund.

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