Port of South Whidbey commissioners open deliberation this week on a proposed $4.6 million budget for next year.

The commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, at the parks and recreation district headquarters across from the former primary school on Maxwelton Road in Langley.

A prime focus of the budget will be on moving forward with the first phase of a planned major expansion project for the harbor at Langley, said Ed Field, port district manager.

“We’re working hard to get it permitted and designed,” Field said. “It’s a big project, a lot of work.”

He said previous estimates put the cost of the entire project at about $4.8 million, but that that figure may increase.

Phase 1A of the project includes making permanent a 400-foot breakwater, installing a 180-foot connector to get to it, and building a 375-foot breakwater on the northeast side of the harbor to form a perimeter.

Depending on the results of the port’s grant applications, the project would go to bid in April, with construction in the latter part of 2011 and the first part of 2012, Field said.

The port already has received a $1.2-million grant from sales-tax revenue under the county’s Rural County Economic Development Fund, he said.

The port also is seeking a $1.5-million federal Boating Infrastructure Grant and a portion of a $2.4-million federal grant from Homeland Security, which it hopes to share with the Island County Sheriff’s Office and Island County Fire District 3, Fields said.

He said a decision on the remaining two grants is expected early next year.