During the Dec. 10 Council meeting, the San Juan County Council will hold a public hearing on passing a new one-tenth of 1% sales tax to create a Cultural Access program. During this meeting, the Council will consider, deliberate and make a final decision on whether to pass the proposed ordinance as a Council. To learn more about the program proposal, visit the County’s website at https://www.sanjuancountywa.gov/2168/Cultural-Access-Program-Proposal.

What is cultural access?

The Washington state Legislature has stated, “There is a need to provide public and educational benefits and economic support for cultural organizations. Providing local support for the state’s cultural organizations is in the public interest and will serve multiple public purposes including, among others, enhancing and extending the education reach and offerings of cultural organizations; ensuring continued and expanded access to the facilities and programs of cultural organizations by economically and geographically underserved populations; and providing financial stability to the organizations to continue and extend the numerous public benefits they provide.”

To support this goal, the Legislature has given counties and cities the ability to support access to history, science and the arts through a one-tenth of 1% sales tax. Based on San Juan County’s 2023 revenues, approximately $800,000 could be collected annually to support cultural access. Due to the high volume of visitors and tourists to San Juan County, the proposed tax would cost approximately $20 per household per year.

Funds would be focused on a specific purpose – to provide local support and financial stability to schools and cultural organizations.

How did we get here?

On May 16, 2023, Inspire Washington, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support to local communities to establish cultural access programs, gave an educational presentation to the San Juan County Council. Throughout the year and into 2024, the Council directed Parks and Fair Director Brandon Andrews to explore the feasibility of setting up and administering a Cultural Access program. The County conducted conversations with local school districts, museums, theaters and county nonprofits to understand if there was interest in and support for this program. After learning of local support for a Cultural Access program, during the Nov. 12 Council meeting, the San Juan County Council decided to set a public hearing to move the process forward.

The public hearing was set for Dec. 10. This hearing will discuss the establishment of a Cultural Access program in San Juan County. If passed, this would be the first program in a rural area of Washington State.

How to participate:

Written comments may be submitted in advance of the hearing by mail, email, at the hearing or by delivery in person. Mail can be sent to 350 Court Street #1, Friday Harbor, WA 98250; email to councilpc@sanjuancountywa.gov.

You can attend the Council meeting in person. You may speak in person, and sign-ups will be available in the room. The meeting will be held in the Council Hearing Room at 55 Second Street, Friday Harbor.

You can also call in to make a comment. To call in and sign up for Public Comment, visit https://www.sanjuancountywa.gov/1879/Public-Comment-Signup. After signing up, call in at 9 a.m. to join the meeting via telephone: +1-360-726-3293 with phone conference ID 630 068 600#.

If you are watching or listening to the Council livestream, please turn it off when calling in for Public Comment.

You can access the live stream at https://sanjuancowa.portal.civicclerk.com/.

If you forget to sign up, no worries! Just make yourself known when the Council chair asks for any additional comments.

Note: The Council wants to hear your ideas or concerns. To ensure equal opportunity for the public to comment, comments may be limited in length. Each person may address the Council one time during the public comment period.

To learn more about the program proposal, how funds will be spent and more, visit the County’s website at https://www.sanjuancountywa.gov/2168/Cultural-Access-Program-Proposal.

Questions? Contact Parks and Fair Director Brandon Andrews at brandona@sanjuancountywa.gov or 360-370-7452.