LopezRocks - Item

WHY I RUN:

Lopez Island’s public school faces a financial crisis threatening its future and our community’s vitality. I’m running to ensure district revenues prioritize essential support for our school & local youth. Other WA Parks & Recreation districts use their levies to support athletics, school garden, outdoor education, and after-school programs; we should prioritize these benefits for kids too, while keeping overhead low.

WHAT I OFFER IF ELECTED:

I believe I will bring a diversified perspective different from the Lopez Rec formation committee candidates. I do appreciate the committee's hard work and thoughtfulness put toward this mechanism, but there are things I'd do or approach differently if I was elected.

1. Staffing

The formation committee budgets $170,000 for staffing to cover 1 full-time director ($117,000 salary plus benefits) and a part-time assistant. I believe this expense can be reduced significantly to make funds available to support school and youth programs.

2. Admin or operations

The formation committee budgets $167,000 for insurance, accounting, IT, legal, etc. If Lopez Rec primarily passes through funding from the levy to support different organizations, like the Lopez school or Lopez Island Family Resource Center, or programs like Youth Conservation Corps, there may not be a lot of overhead needed. The basic infrastructure like IT or accounting needs to be adequate to get the job done but should be minimized so we have funds available to help support the school and youth programs that are struggling due to funding cuts and constraints.

3. Tax vs. private dollars

I believe tax dollars need to be treated with care and caution. Tax or levy dollars are best reserved for public goods or services, like public school, which benefits everyone in the community as it enables equal opportunity and social mobility and is foundational to our democracy. We have had access to public education and I believe it’s only fair that we make sure the younger generations have similar access to what we had.

Private dollars on the other hand should be used for goods or sports that are enjoyed individually or by small groups of people, with limited benefits to people outside the groups or activities.

Because of policy failures, our public school is not adequately funded. Use of Rec levy funds to support vital programs like the school garden, music and outdoor education, in addition to the committee's pledged $180,000 for school athletics, to lessen the school's budget strain is something I believe most people can get behind.

Pickleball on the other hand is a lot less clear. I have nothing against pickleball and I think it’s a fun, popular sport that has health and social benefits. But I’d consider it more a private good?"a nice thing to have but not essential?"that should be paid for by private dollars.

Because essential services like our school and clinic are struggling financially, I feel we need to be very judicious about using our tax base to pay for things that are not considered “essential” and of limited public benefits.

4. What’s “Recreation”?

The formation committee seems to have a strong focus on sports as the main form of recreation. I'd advocate broadening it to also include other activities. Compared to most Parks and Rec districts, Lopez is more rural. Recreational activities here come in many shapes and forms, including outdoor activities in nature (like Youth Conservation Corps), gardening, musical or theater performances, and cultural events (like storytelling.). Many of these activities are low-cost, provide healthy leisure time enjoyment for all involved, and provide multiple community services (such as trail maintenance, growing food, and enriching our cultural heritage). After prioritizing the school and youths, the remaining funds can be used to offer programming support to meet diverse recreational needs, based on community input.

5. Levy rate of 37 cents/$1000 property value

Unlike the formation committee, I believe we may not need the full levy rate of 37 cents per $1000 property value if we could do more with less. I'm not sure if this is legally permissible but if elected, I'd explore this possibility. Affordability of island living is a concern of mine and of many islanders. (I just published an article on this and another one coming. You can read it at https://salish-current.org/2025/09/26/lopez-island-in-need-of-financial-health-check-community-conversation/)

You can learn more at https://chomgreacenforlopezrec.page.gd/

Budget allocation proposed by Lopez Rec formation committee

https://chomgreacenforlopezrec.page.gd/