LWVSJ Observer Corps | County Council December 9, 2024

||| FROM LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OBSERVER CORPS |||

During public access time eight people from Lopez spoke about the negotiations of a new interlocal  agreement between the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District and the County. Most of the speakers  supported renewing the current agreement without change, while several requested another extension of the  current agreement for three months to one year to allow more time for negotiation and community input into a  new agreement. The Council held over approval of a draft letter to tribal governments to December 10 to  allow time to review the final language.

The Visitor’s Bureau presented its case to keep the current funding formula. All three Islands had drops in  visitors of 7- 21% since 2023 from January to mid-October and July to August, though visitor numbers grew  robustly on the Olympic Peninsula and Leavenworth. About 75% of visitors each year are first time visitors.

In the past an average of 73% of visitors were from Washington; in 2024 that fell to 67%. The amount spent  here on marketing per visitor is well below that of other state destinations, while advertising costs are rising.  Lodging tax revenue is down by 3.8% – 6.8%. Tourism businesses have falling revenue and increasing costs,  squeezing their viability. Sales tax revenue from visitors is another significant factor for county services. Many  non-tourism businesses depend on visitors for viability. For example, the Orcas Island Market is only  profitable due to the additional revenue provided by visitors.

The grants administrator reported to the council on the state audit; the report will be issued soon. Grants  are the second largest source of county revenue. The current grants policy resolution from 2014 needs  updating. The calculation for recovering county administrative costs is cumbersome and ineffective. A federal  rule change will allow the county to move to a simpler 15% de minimis rate that will support higher  recovery. Federal grants flow mostly to Health and Community Services and Environmental Stewardship and  may be affected by changes at the federal level. The county will obligate funds remaining from the ARPA  grant (Covid-era federal support) to general fund personnel expenses by year-end.

Health and Community Services is managing the grant to supplement ferry services and is developing  requests for proposals for barge services, and interisland foot passenger service when WSF service  is unavailable and scheduled foot-passenger service Anacortes. They will need more staff support when  services begin. Councilmember Fuller will do a CNL2 interview to update the public on these plans. The  Council took a second look at the proposed reorganization of the planning code.

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.