SEQUIM — This town was referred to a “poor relation” during debate before the Sequim City Council voted to supply a smaller-than-requested amount toward a grant that could help Kenmore Air survive on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The council voted unanimously Monday night to contribute $7,000 in lodging-tax revenue toward the $40,000 local portion of the $400,000 grant, which the U.S. Department of Transportation could make to the Port of Port Angeles.
The port’s executive director, Jeff Robb, had asked Sequim to contribute $10,000 toward the grant application, just as the city of Port Angeles and Kenmore itself have done.
But most members of the Sequim Marketing Action Committee, which advises the council on spending of lodging-tax dollars, didn’t think Sequim should provide as much as Port Angeles, a bigger city making more lodging-tax money.
Sequim is a “poor relative” while its neighbor is a “rich uncle,” said Olaf Protze, the committee member who owns the Red Caboose Getaway lodge near Sequim’s eastern edge.
Mayor Laura Dubois spoke of the federal grant’s purpose, which is to promote all of Clallam County as an alluring destination for Kenmore fliers.
“We will always be a poor relation if we don’t market ourselves,” Dubois said, adding that she believes the number of Kenmore passengers heading for Sequim could increase with the right marketing campaign.
Dubois initially wanted Sequim to contribute the $10,000 Robb requested.
Then Damian Humphreys, a member of the lodging-tax committee who is marketing director for Sequim’s Quality Inn and for the Holiday Inn Express being built on the city’s east side, stepped up to speak.
The recession has lodging-tax revenues sinking, Humphreys said, and there’s no predicting where they’ll go once summer ends.
“The rest of the year scares me,” he said, “and it should scare everyone.”
Humphreys emphasized that he supports Kenmore Air, but that Sequim can ill afford $10,000 for the grant application.
According to a hotel-motel tax income report on the city’s Web site, www.ci.Sequim.wa.us, revenues are at 87 percent of what they were last year.
Since all seven council members ultimately decided to send $7,000 instead of $10,000, the Port of Port Angeles will make up the difference, Robb has said.
The deadline for the grant application is Friday, and the federal Transportation Department will announce the grant recipients in December.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsula dailynews.com.
