Oak Harbor council members debated wording and scoring for the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee’s grant application and approved a higher funding level for the 2026 LTAC cycle.

Councilmember Stuckey asked staff about questions added to the application to assess sustainability and how applicants would become less reliant on LTAC funds. Wendy Horn, the city’s grants administrator, said staff reworded the question to ask applicants how they plan to become less dependent on LTAC funding and that the question applies to both nonprofit and for‑profit applicants. Council members discussed whether sustainability should carry the same weight for nonprofits as for‑profit applicants, whether it should be a mandatory scoring criterion or a bonus, and whether single‑year events without multi‑year plans would be disadvantaged.

Council members suggested alternatives: reducing the sustainability weighting from 10% to 5%, making it bonus points, or leaving it for one year and reevaluating. Members also noted the LTAC’s primary purpose is to increase “heads in beds” (overnight stays), not to fund community giveaways such as scholarships. Several councilmembers said they would defer to the LTAC committee’s recommendations on application structure and noted the committee had already reviewed and recommended adjustments.

Separately, council considered the lodging tax funding level for 2026. Staff said the funding level in the packet was updated after the workshop from $450,000 to $475,000. Council moved and approved, by unanimous vote, a referral adopting the $475,000 funding level for 2026; council clarified the increase does not guarantee funding to any particular project and that applicants (including the marina) must apply like all others.

Councilmembers said they will monitor how the application performs during the next award cycle and can adjust question wording or point weights the following year if needed.