||| FROM NECIA QUAST for LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS |||
The Council approved the revised Lodging Tax Advisory Committee recommendation for 2025 destination marketing services agreement for one year with the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau with a flat fee of $535k which represented an 8% nominal cut in funding vs. the 16% cut the Council had proposed. Given inflation the real cut was larger. Given the fall in tourism activity and the challenges faced by tourism-dependent visits, the LTAC thought, and the Council accepted, that this was not the time for a higher cut. The LATC committee did express interest in better data and a willingness to potentially consider a bigger cut depending on what the data revealed. The council approved using LTAC funds to support the wages of the LTAC coordinator up to $30,380.
The council ratified the bargaining agreement with the Sheriff’s Guild for 2025-2026. The council approved a resolution adopting county staffing levels and pay and benefit plans for 2025. In both cases council members noted the cordial and productive negotiations between the county manager and union representatives.
The Governor sent a letter to the Canadian government in support of stationing an emergency tow vessel in Sydney. This is in support of the bilateral effort to get such a vessel based near enough to the Salish Sea to respond to vessel emergencies and mitigate the damage from oil spills.
The council passed a resolution to appoint Tamara Green as interim coroner while they continue to seek a functional way to manage coroner services now that state law has changed to prohibit the county prosecuting attorneys from acting as coroner as had been the practice in small counties.
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization encourages informed participation in government. The Observer Corps attends and takes notes at government meetings to expand public understanding of public policy and decisions. The notes do not necessarily reflect the views of the League or its members.
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Thank you Necia.
It doesn’t hurt my feelings to see a fall in tourism activity, and an 8% cut in the LTAC funding for the visitors bureau. Like many, I very much appreciate this move on behalf of the county council, and I had to laugh at hearing that the LTAC committee recommendation was, (gasp!), to take the lesser of the two cuts offered. Why give them the option? That’s a bit like asking Dracula if he’d rather have 8% less blood or 16% less blood in his diet. Trust me when I say, that 80% would have appeased myself, and in viewing past community surveys that have been performed throughout the years, many others even more.
There are those who tout the many businesses and jobs that tourism supports in SJC. There is no denying this, and in a balanced setting this would be called “a healthy economy.” But that’s not what we have in SJC. I know many people who own businesses that cater to tourists, and I know many people who work in those businesses that hold down 2, and even 3 jobs, (with no benefits). SJC’s long-term business model is one that is over-reliant upon tourism, and is one that has, in essence, contributed greatly to our affordable housing crisis and to the downfall of our long-term rental housing market.
The hard truth is that San Juan County’s over-reliance on a tourism-dominant economic policy is more than a housing problem for a few… “it’s a community problem.”
Think globally act locally- just like donating to bake sales are a good way of supporting local schools because most of our money goes towards military spending, donating to OPAL is a good way of supporting affordable housing because most of SJC’s money goes towards promoting more tourism.
The following (see below) are excerpts from the current OPAL Community Land Trust’s fundraising effort–
Home is Where our Heart Is. A Love Letter to You!
Orcas Islanders are struggling. Beneath the beauty of our shores and forests, many families have a hard time finding a stable and affordable place to live.
The Hard Truth:
The median home price has climbed to over $1 million—a 50% increase in the last decade.
Nearly 1 in 3 renters on Orcas spend more than half their income on housing.
Without affordable options, we’re losing teachers, caregivers and small business owners—people who hold our community together.
Every family priced out means fewer children in our schools, fewer familiar faces in our shops and fewer hands to care for our elders. Without action, Orcas risks losing people who are critical to making this place what it is.
This is more than a housing problem for a few—it’s a community problem.
https://www.opalclt.org/donate/donate-now/