County Grants $471,050 in Lodging Tax Awards

Historic Preservation Grants of $4,771 also awarded

— by Margie Doyle —

(Updated July 17 at 2:30 a.m.)
At its July 7 session, the San Juan County Council approved awards of up to $471,050 to various county applicants, to be used in 2016. The Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) which recommends the grant amounts, received 17 proposals by its May 15, 2015 deadline. Seven of the proposals were from first-time applicants. (Editor’s note: an earlier version of this report reported county-wide grants under San Juan Island headings. Councilman Rick Hughes clarified this error in his comments (noted below), which were made following earlier comments. I regret the error)

San Juan County organizations received LTAC funds for:

• San Juan [County-wide] Performing Arts Centers — $94,500 of $96,000 requested;
• San Juan [County-wide] Historical Museums — $70,875 of $88,500 requested;
• Agricultural Resources Committee [County] Agritourism — $10,000 (full amount requested);
• County Parks and Fairgrounds operations — $207,000 (full amount requested, up $7,000 from this year);
• San Juan [County] by Mixby smartphone app– $15,000 of $20,000 requested;

On Orcas Island, the following organizations received LTAC funds:

• the TedX event in November received its full funding request of $10,300;
• the Orcas International Film Festival also received its full funding request of $10,000;
• The Historic Strawberry Barreling Plant Tourist Outreach received $10,000 of its $10,224 request;
• Orcas Island BirdFest received its full funding request of $5,100 (down from this year’s grant of $5,8000);
• The Shakespeare Festival received its full funding request of $4,200 (increased $700 from this year).

San Juan Island organizations received the following funds:

• Friday Harbor Film Festival — up to $10,000 in a match with the Town of Friday Harbor ($30,000 requested);

Lopez Island organizations received:

• Lopez Island Conservation Corps — $10,000 of $12,000 requested (see Hughes’ explanation below);
• Lopez Chamber for Lopez Village Holiday Lighting & Gathering –$1,575 (full amount requested).

Applications from the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, Kwiaht, and the San Juan Islands’ Shuttle Sytem/Round Towner were not supported by the LTAC. The recommendation for funding the Orcas Chamber of Commerce for Fireworks was removed from the list of recommended projects by council vote, with Councilman Rick Hughes opposing that removal.

In addition, the Council approved Historic Preservation grants of $4,771 for the following applications:

• Lopez Island Historical Society — $1,000
• San Juan Historical Society & Museum — $1,500
• Orcas Island Historical Museums — $1,700
• Historic Barns of San Juan County Touring Maps — $571