The Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce may not be getting any of Island County’s lodging tax money next year.
Island County commissioners expressed unhappiness with the resistance to sharing the 2 percent money with a museum dedicated to Navy heritage.
The county commissioners met Wednesday to consider the newest recommendations from the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, a group of volunteers charged with coming up with a proposal for distributing the funds.
Commissioner Jill Johnson, a former Oak Harbor chamber director, said the chamber does important work and needs consistent funding, but criticized current chamber Director Christine Cribb for not agreeing to distribute some of the chamber’s proposed allocation of $31,000 to the PBY-Naval Air Museum.
“There was an unwillingness to share even a little bit and, I understand, there were even tears,” Johnson said.
“At what point is it just greedy?”
Commissioner Rick Hannold questioned why the chamber should receive an increase of 50 percent above the average allocation over the last six years while others only received tiny hikes or decreases in funding.
The chamber is getting $167,000 in lodging taxes from the City of Oak Harbor next year, he noted.
Commissioner Helen Price Johnson also asked what the chamber is doing to justify such a large increase.
The commissioners agreed that they don’t want to hold up the allocations to other entities any longer, so they removed the chamber from the list in order to move everything else forward.
Johnson said she would check with the prosecutor’s office to see if the commissioners can reduce the chamber’s allocation, or if they will just skip chamber funding altogether.
The commissioners, however, indicated they already knew the answer.
Under state law, the elected officials may only approve or reject the recommendation, or ask the tax advisory committee to reconsider funding recommendations.
It’s still possible that the Oak Harbor chamber could received some funding, which would require sending the proposal back to the advisory committee once again, according to an email Johnson sent to Cribb after the meeting.
Cribb didn’t return a call for comment.
In an email to Johnson, Cribb pointed out that the advisory committee was unanimous in its support of funding “the historic marketing efforts of the Oak Harbor Chamber.”
“The volunteer advisory committee is made up of longtime members of our community throughout Island County, and we value and appreciate their time serving and extensive research of the challenging task of dispersing 2 percent funds,” she wrote.
Under the law, the advisory committee is composed of representatives from groups that receive the funding and businesses that collect the tax.
The 2 percent tax is supposed to go toward efforts that encourage tourism.
Last month, the committee recommended $210,000 in allocations, with the highest amount — $31,000 — going to the Oak Harbor chamber.
The committee recommended an additional $2,581 to the chamber, specifically for a portable ice rink.
The commissioners said they are concerned that some groups didn’t receive enough much money and the chamber received a significant increase over previous years.
The commissioners re-leased an additional $20,000 and asked the committee to reduce the Oak Harbor Chamber funding by up to $15,000.
The advisory committee recommended distribution of the $20,000, but unanimously agreed to keep the chamber funding at $31,000. The PBY Museum didn’t receive a recommendation for an increase.
Cribb told the advisory committee that the chamber could help the PBY Museum with marketing, said Hannold.
Hannold said the museum needs help paying its rent and utilities, not advertising.
Price Johnson said she is concerned about the lack of transparency in the advisory board’s process and struggles to understand the reasoning for its recommendation.
Johnson said she’s torn on the issue. While a supporter of the chamber, as a commissioner she said she can’t in good conscience support an increase in funding.
The chamber used to earn the county lodging tax funds by running a visitor kiosk at Deception Pass, one of the most popular tourism destinations in the state, she said.
But, Johnson pointed out, the chamber no longer has a visitor kiosk at the bridge.
Skagit County dedicated lodging taxes to have employees distribute visitor information at the new kiosk, run by the Deception Pass Foundation, but Island County and Oak Harbor have no presence there, she said.
The commissioners said that, in the future, they may provide the advisory committee more specific criteria to govern the allocation of 2 percent tax funds.
