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Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
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WEDNESDAY, August 15, 2012 n VOL. 45, NO. 33 n 75¢
Voters pass Prop. 1 by SCOTT RASMUSSEN Journal editor
Last of its kind
Colleen Smith Armstrong/staff photo
Pole Pass Airway’s 1929 Hamilton Metal Plane made its first appearance at the fly-in on Aug. 4-5. “It’s the only one left in existence that is in flying condition,” said Kevin McCoy, hangar manager and crew chief for the plane. It has a 55-foot wingspan and a 600 horsepower engine.
San Juan County voters handed their local government a lifeline of new revenue in the form of a three-tenths of 1 percent increase in the local sales tax. If you’re doing the math, that’s .003, or 30 cents on a $100 purchase, with most groceries, professional services – like doctors and lawyers – and prescription medication excluded. The sales-tax measure, Proposition 1 on the ballot, slipped under the primary election wire with a victory in one of the lightest elections in recent memory. With 600 ballots or so left to count, the measure drew 53 percent of 5,884 ballots tallied as of Aug. 9, or 2,788 votes, with voter-turnout hovering just a notch above 47 percent. Only 312 votes separated failure from success, but after two tallies, with 4,258 ballots counted on election night and another 1,226 the next, the margin was large enough and voting-trend consistent enough for Auditor Milene Henley, manager of the County Elections Office, to declare Prop. 1 a winner. Sheriff Rob Nou was elated, but
Staff reporter
On any given day, visitors can be see milling around shops in Eastsound, eating ice cream, walking on the beach and camping in Moran State Park. But islanders are skeptical as to whether or not this summer’s tourism is actually boosting the economy. Here’s a snapshot of how things are going when it comes to ferry riders, tourism, real estate and unemployment.
Ferry riders According to Washington State Ferry statistics it appears that more visitors are coming to the islands compared to last year.
From April to June 2011, there was a total of 437,410 ferry riders – 215,218 drove their vehicles and 222,192 came to the islands as car passengers or on foot. This April through June a total of 452,858 riders came aboard the ferries and 222,806 came in cars while 230,052 were passengers or on foot. But the question remains, what are they doing once they get off the boat?
Tourism Deborah Hopkins of the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau said they don’t have access to lodging tax (tax paid for overnight stays at a lodging property such as a hotel, motel, resort, inn, and bed and breakfast) statistics
See elections, Page 6
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Summer snapshot: ferry riders, tourism, real estate by CALI BAGBY
not surprised, by the result. “Surprised? I don’t know that I’d say that,” Nou said. “I think it’s more like relieved, and very grateful.” In recent weeks, the Sheriff ’s Department has been one of several agencies firmly planted in the crosshairs of the county budget team, tasked with having to balance a 2013 budget with a projected shortfall of $800,000, possibly more, on the revenue side of the county’s primary funding mechanism, its general fund. Totaling $16.8 million in 2013, tentatively, the general fund pays the bulk of most county day-today expenses, but with roughly half that total restricted and earmarked solely for specific programs or personnel. Of the half considered “discretionary,” County Administrator Bob Jean notes that about 50 percent of that amount, nearly $4 million, would flow into the sheriff ’s budget if funding levels were to remain at status quo. In addition to paying officer salaries, the sheriff ’s budget also covers the cost of dispatch, 911,
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A shopper at the recent Orcas Library fair.
for the summer, but May numbers show that the islands fared well. County lodging tax increased 26 percent through May compared to last year. Orcas Island lodging tax increased by 37 percent, San Juan Island increased by 25 percent, Friday Harbor increased by 17 percent, but Lopez Island decreased by 26
See TOURISM, Page 6
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