From sales revenue, wages, taxes, and jobs — not to mention permit and impact fees — the business of construction in Kitsap County brings in a hefty sum of money each year.

Start with permits. According to Kitsap County’s Department of Community Development (DCD), actual building permit revenue for 2002 in Kitsap County was close to $1.4 million. In 2003 that figure went up more than $1 million, to nearly $2.6 million. Additional revenue is also generated from business license fees, B&O taxes, and so on.

The Home Builders Association of Kitsap County (HBA) compiled an array of data from January 1999 to October 2000 (the most recent data available at the time of the project) to determine what the one-time and ongoing revenue contributions are for each new house built in the county. The data was broken down based on the community in which the homes were built (unincorporated Kitsap County, Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, and Port Orchard), and revenue estimates were made using assumptions on the average house price, raw land value, permit/hook-up fees, and property taxes for each community.

Every new home built in Kitsap County during that time generated an estimated $90,840 to $239,540 in income (labor, real estate commissions, and so on); $9,020 to $27,410 in new local — city and county — government revenue; and created or supported 2.41 to 6.34 jobs. The fluctuations in revenue depend on the area where the home was built. A home built on Bainbridge Island is at the highest end of the range. A home built in Poulsbo would be in the middle of the range.

On an annual basis, Kitsap’s HBA estimated, each one of those houses would continue to support $26,000 to $49,000 in income, $3,000 to $7000 in local government revenue, and .74 to 1.4 jobs. After the first ten years those homes will generate $40,000 to $90,000 of local government revenue.

Art Castle, executive vice president of the HBA, is quick to point out that these numbers are very likely on the low side. In some cases the data compiled was based on the permit value of the house, rather than the retail value. In other cases, when interpolation of the data was required, the association chose to err on the conservative side.

So, conservatively, the approximately 1,800 new homes that were built in the 22-month period tracked by this project generated $279,791,040 in income, $28,750,420 in local government revenue, and kept 7,405 people employed. And that’s just the first year they were built.

“Although the information is somewhat dated, this was not an atypical year,” said Castle.

Note that these figures do not include sales tax or real estate excise taxes, two more big revenue generators. Washington is one of the few states that collects sales tax on materials and labor. Using the new homes added to the Kitsap County Assessor’s records as its sample, the HBA estimated 2001 sales taxes on all new construction in Kitsap County — based on permit valuation — was $342.9 million. According to Washington’s Office of Financial Management (OFM), actual real estate excise taxes in Kitsap county that same year generated $19.2 million — with $13.8 million going to the state for common schools and public works, and $5.4 million going to Kitsap County local governments.

Aside from revenue, the construction industry — along with its supporting industries, real estate, lending, and finance — are among the county’s largest employers.

“This set of industries is probably the single biggest player in the area outside of government,” said Castle. “Most of the construction firms in the area are smaller, but the thing is, there’s lots of them. It’s a cumulative effect.”.