COOS BAY — The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay had some good news and some bad news to report at its regular meeting Thursday about the Coos Bay rail line.

The good news was that the bridges and tunnels seem to be in pretty good shape. There was some uncertainty about this after Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad closed the line in September 2007 because of safety concerns about tunnels.

“There have been no collapses or major degradation of the tunnels,” said executive director Jeff Bishop.

The not-so-good news was that a new estimate of the net liquidation value of the line is $14.4 million, significantly more than the previous estimate of $9.8 million. Bishop attributed the increase to the rise in the value of scrap metal since September 2007. He did note, though, that the scrap metal market has declined substantially recently, which may mean the value could drop before all is said and done.

The findings came after engineers contracted by the port finished inspecting the line earlier this week. The port requested permission to inspect the line as part of its feeder line application filed earlier this summer with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.

The STB is expected to make a decision on the Coos Bay rail line’s fate on or about Oct. 31, when it will consider Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad’s abandonment and the port’s feeder line application. If the application is approved, Bishop said, the port will have 10 days to decide whether to go ahead and buy the line.

If it does, it will take at least until Feb. 9 for the port to take ownership.

Bishop also noted that the port has requested the STB to consider creating an escrow account so that $12.6 million of the $14.4 million of the sale would be used to make repairs to the rail line.

The port estimates repairs to the line will cost between $20 million and $50 million

Despite the potential steep cost of repairs, Bishop said there are no plans to hike taxes, though the port did consider the idea.

The port only has the ability to raise taxes within the port district, and even then there would need to be a vote. Since a good portion of the rail line lies outside the port district, Bishop said it would be unfair to impose the tax on port district taxpayers.

The only theoretical alternative would be to create a new tax district for the entire length of the 111 miles of track, though that has a number of hurdles.

For one thing, there is no such thing as a railroad tax district allowed under Oregon statute. Bishop explained that the state Legislature would need to pass a law to create such an entity and then put the issue to a vote of those within the district. But even if a scenario like this were to play out, a U.S. Surface Transportation Board procedure would prevent the district from taking ownership of the line.

If the port were to purchase the line from Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad, it can’t sell it to anyone else without first offering it back to the railroad. That would stymie any theoretical attempt to change ownership from the port to a taxing district.

So rather than look for taxes, the port is considering other options.

The port expects to have a preliminary business plan ready by the week of Oct. 14.