Island County, Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Langley Approve Streamlined Tourism Board, Funding Reduced

Island County commissioners adopted an interlocal agreement March 6 that establishes a joint tourism program for Whidbey and Camano Islands and, according to local materials, follows prior action by Oak Harbor, Coupeville and Langley to join the arrangement. Coupeville’s council materials frame the change as a shift away from a larger joint board toward what the county and towns describe as streamlined governance, and spell out how the so-called second 2% lodging tax will move between local governments and the new committee.

The document circulated in Coupeville is titled, verbatim, “COUNTY, OAK HARBOR, LANGLEY, AND COUPEVILLE LODGING TAX TOURISM PROMOTION AGREEMENT,” and cites RCW 67.28.181 as the legal authority for the additional lodging excise tax. The Coupeville packet shows the agreement text with a placeholder for the execution date, indicating the formal signed copy has not been included in that excerpt.

Coupeville’s summary of the finances is explicit: “The County has agreed to continue to pay all of their second 2% money to the County Board. Oak Harbor and Langley will pay 25% of the second 2%. The Town will also pay 25%, but since we have always paid the entire amount, we will get to keep 75% to use for tourism promotion or facilities!” The town provides a concrete example: “For the past few years the second 2% has totaled around $40,000. Under the new agreement, we would pay $10,000 into the Committee fund and we would keep $30,000 to use on tourism in our Town.”

The Coupeville materials also recount a past capital-payback arrangement in Langley, noting, “Langley was paying off a restroom were suppose to give 50% until the restroom was paid for and then give 100% thereafter. Not all partners lived up to this agreement, however they benefited from the Marketing efforts.” That language signals lingering tensions over past project accounting as the four jurisdictions move to a new funding model.

Coupeville placed the interlocal agreement on its Town Council agenda for January 27, 2026 at 6:00 p.m., with the meeting listed in the Island County Hearing Room; remote access information in the packet reads, “To access the Town Council meeting remotely, by phone dial 571-317-3122 and use access code 707-347-805.” The agenda item appears under New Business as “Approve Island County Tourism Interlocal Agreement,” although the agenda excerpt does not include a signed agreement or vote tally in that packet.

Broader county planning friction provides context for the interlocal talks: Island County planning records and local advocacy groups documented a split Planning Commission vote, 5 to 3, on Aug. 20, 2025 over whether to allow the county to lower Oak Harbor’s population projections. Whidbey Environmental Action Network Executive Director Marnie Jackson urged adherence to original forecasts, saying, “Sticking with the original population forecast is not just good planning: it is consistent with the GMA’s new housing requirements, which aim to provide sufficient housing for people of all incomes. It’s fair to Coupeville and Langley, who planned in good faith.”

Key operational details remain absent from the circulated excerpts: the executed interlocal agreement with signature dates, the new governance body’s membership and decision rules, and jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction lodging-tax revenue histories. The Coupeville packet’s dollar example gives residents a tangible sense of impact—roughly $30,000 retained locally versus a $10,000 contribution to the regional committee—but implementation will hinge on the fully executed agreement and published revenue reports from Island County, Oak Harbor and Langley.