An informal decision from the state Attorney General’s Office may change how counties and cities distribute lodging tax dollars, but it didn’t end help the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce collect a 2016 grant award.

The Island County commissioners decided this week that they won’t allocate any of the lodging tax dollars to the Oak Harbor chamber for 2016, citing the chamber’s initial refusal to accept the money over concerns about the county’s interpretation of the law.

That’s a loss of $25,000.

“IT AFFECTS the whole island and especially small businesses,” Chamber Director Christine Cribb said, “because it affects our ability to market in the shoulder season.”

Lodging taxes, also known as “2 percent funds,” are charged on stays at hotels and other lodging businesses. The money is to be given to groups or governmental entities focused on boosting tourism.

In 2013, state lawmakers revised the law regarding an expanded role of the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. The committee is comprised of representatives from lodging businesses as well as groups that are eligible to receive the tax dollars.

The committee is tasked with evaluating applicants for funding and making recommendations to elected officials.

IN REVISING the law, legislators created confusion with a vague sentence that leaves it unclear as to whether elected officials have the power to change the amounts being recommended by the committee.

Last year, members of Island County’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee unanimously voted to give the Oak Harbor chamber $31,465 in lodging taxes, the highest amount on the list of recommended awards.

The county commissioners, however, weren’t happy with the recommendations for smaller groups, particularly the PBY Naval Air Museum in Oak Harbor and Island County Historical Society Museum in Coupeville. They asked the Tax Advisory Committee to reduce the amount proposed for the Oak Harbor chamber and increase the amount going to the smaller entities.

Cribb argued against the decrease, saying that the marketing the chamber does helps the smaller organizations as well as businesses across the island.

DESPITE THE commissioners’ request, the Tax Advisory Committee again voted unanimously to award the chamber the entire $31,465.

The commissioners balked.

Commissioners Rick Hannold and Jill Johnson accused the Oak Harbor chamber of being greedy and unwilling to share, pointing out that the City of Oak Harbor awarded the chamber $167,000 in lodging taxes.

The commissioners asked the county Prosecu-tor’s Office for a legal opinion on whether they could change the amount recommended by the committee. Many municipalities across the state, including Oak Harbor, followed the Municipal Research and Services Center’s opinion that the elected officials cannot change the amount, but either must accept the advisory committee’s recommendation in total, or reject it altogether.

Chief Civil Prosecutor Dan Mitchell and Prosecutor Greg Banks interpreted the statute differently, however, and advised the commissioners that they could change the grant amount proposed for the Oak Harbor chamber.

While skeptical about the legal advice, the commissioners followed it nevertheless and changed the chamber award to $25,000. Banks asked the Attorney General’s Office for a legal opinion on the issue.

The chamber board members declined to accept the grant, concluding that it could put the chamber in legal jeopardy if the grant is challenged in court.

THE CONFUSION surrounds the part of the lodging-tax law stating that county or city leaders “may choose only recipients from the list of candidates and recommended amounts provided by the local lodging tax advisory committee.” The question was whether the “only” modifies the second half of the sentence so that the elected officials may choose “only recommended amounts.”

The deputy attorney general who wrote the informal opinion agreed with the prosecutor that the “only” does not modify the second half of the sentence and, therefore, the commissioners can change the amount — but only after the proposed change is sent back to the advisory committee for review and comment at least 45 days before final action is taken.

In the opinion, the deputy AG agreed that the statute is vague but points out that the law consistently uses the terms “advisory” and “recommendations” in reference to the committee.

“The legislature maintained the role of the committee as an advisory body that makes recommendations, while also vesting final decision making authority in the municipality,” the opinion states.

BANKS AGREES that the statute was poorly written, but he points out that the county commissioners’ paramount authority it to decide how taxes are spent and it would seem strange to take that power away on this one tax.

Bob Meinig, the legal consultant for Municipal Research, pointed out that the opinion was informal, but he said it is the only legal authority addressing the issue to date. Meinig said the officials at the Municipal Research haven’t discussed it yet, but it’s likely a document on the website addressing the issue will be changed to reference the opinion.

Still, the chamber apparently isn’t going to get the grant money. In fact, the PBY Museum also didn’t get the grant funding either in all the confusion.

THE COMMISSIONERS discussed the issue during their meeting Tuesday.

Johnson said the chamber chose to refuse the grant money against her advice to await the legal opinion.

There is, however, confusion about this point; the chamber president told the Whidbey News-Times in January that the chamber would gladly accept the money if there was written confirmation that the commissioners’ action was legal.

Johnson said the entire process would likely have to be be redone to allocate the money; meanwhile, the grant application period for 2017 is currently open.

Commissioner Helen Price Johnson said it’s very difficult to schedule times for the advisory committee to meet.

“It does seem like a refusal of a grant is a refusal of a grant,” she said.

Hannold agreed.

“If they refused it, the cycle is closed,” he said.

FOLLOWING TUESDAY’S meeting, Johnson said she hopes the Tax Advisory Committee remembers that the Oak Harbor chamber received nothing in county lodging taxes this year when it’s making recommendations for 2017.

While the commissioners now have authority to revise the grant amounts, it seems unlikely they will do that under a new process for awarding the funds. The commissioners adopted an all-or-nothing process in which the advisory committee can only award an applicant the entire amount of a request or nothing at all.

Cribb said this week she’s pleased with the new process adopted by the commissioners, particularly the transparency.