Oak Harbor businesses last month pledged $38,800 to help improve the city’s historical downtown, an amount that Margaret Livermore, president of the Oak Harbor Main Street Association, called “fantastic.”
Add that amount to the $40,000 the city pledged in December, and “that’s a lot of money,” Livermore said.
Scoring $78,800 “speaks well to people really wanting to see something happen to make downtown a vital community center,” she said.
After Oak Harbor was recognized Jan. 1 as an official Washington Main Street Community, its businesses, along with the city itself, became eligible to donate up to $250,000 a year each to the program. Their incentive is that they can credit 75 percent of their donation against their business and occupation (B&O) or public-utility tax the following year.
The state allows a maximum of $1.5 million in total tax credits each year, and no Main Street Community may receive more than $133,333 per year. The $1.5 million ceiling is being reached faster and faster each year, as more and more municipalities become Main Street Communities, Livermore said.
In 2015, the ceiling was reached by April, and this year it was reached in 2.5 days. That’s why it was imperative that businesses make their pledges immediately after New Year’s Eve, she said.
“The city agreed to pledge immediately,” Livermore said. “I sent emails to all the businesses in the Main Street Community urging them to contribute at once.”
Livermore had others making urgent phone calls to make sure contributions were made as early as possible in 2016.
“If we’d had 15 minutes more to make calls, I think we would have gotten the maximum,” she said. As it is, Oak Harbor is among the top recipients of funds among the roughly 34 communities vying for them, she said.
Businesses and individuals who pledged contributions this year include Ron and Laura Apgar, Bayview Embroidery N Print, Coldwell Banker Koetje Real Estate, Frasers Gourmet Hideaway, Flyers, Heritage Bank.
Also Jones Accounting, Margaret Livermore, Peoples Bank, Puget Sound Energy, Purple Moon, Rustica, Robert Severns, the Law Offices of Christon C. Skinner, Whidbey SeaTac Shuttle and Wildwood Farm.
The Main Street Organization will use the money, which is due by year-end, to reimburse individuals who paid for expenses out of their own pockets, to buy required liability insurance and to help fund the position of paid full-time executive director, which is expected to be filled by fall.
Improving signage to guide people off State Highway 20 into downtown is also a key goal, Livermore said.
Main Street membership is currently free to all businesses, and may remain so for up to two years, she said.
A meeting is scheduled for March 30 to announce the organization’s 13 board members.
A bit more money could be freed up toward year-end when some of the those who pledged to donate inevitably renege on their pledges. Communities that move quickly enough can have their businesses pledge a bit more until the ceiling is reached again, Livermore said.
Some Oak Harbor businesses did try to pledge last month but were unable to because the ceiling had been reached, she said.
