EVERETT — After months of contentious debate over lodging tax funds, the Arlington City Council voted Monday 4-3 to reduce a grant award in half for the city’s most attended event.
As a result of the vote, SkyFest will receive $20,000 of lodging tax money from the city of Arlington instead of the recommended $39,960. Council members Michele Blythe, Yvonne Gallardo, Rob Toyer and Leisha Nobach voted for the reduction. Council members Heather Logan, Debora Nelson and Jan Schuette voted against.
The Daily Herald reported on the disagreement between members of the Arlington City Council and the city’s lodging tax advisory committee on Sept. 9. Each year, the committee recommends to the City Council how to distribute lodging tax funds to events that boost city tourism.
SkyFest, an aviation event, is the most attended and highest-grossing event in Arlington with an average annual revenue of $200,000 and 15,000 people in attendance this year, according to Barbara Tolbert, the event’s executive director.
SkyFest regularly receives over 20% of the city’s total lodging tax fund, and the lodging tax committee recommended the $39,960 grant — 22% of the total fund — for next year’s event.
However, on Aug. 4, Blythe suggested cutting SkyFest funding to $20,000, or 11% of the total fund, and spreading the extra money to other events.
“I just don’t think it benefits the city itself in revenue to the amount that we’re giving them,” Blythe said on July 7.
The lodging tax committee met Aug 12, according to Arlington City Administrator Paul Ellis during a council meeting on Sept. 15. It recommended instead reducing two grants for SkyFest and Hometwon Holidays — an event put on by the city of Arlington originally allotted to receive $46,960 — by $10,000.
Doing so would reduce SkyFest’s grant to $29,960, or 16% of the total fund.
However, once the lodging tax recommendations were presented to the City Council on Sept. 15, Blythe almost immediately moved to approve the allotments she came up with on Aug. 4 and Nobach seconded.
The council approved Blythe’s Aug. 4 allotment proposal, reducing SkyFest’s funding to $20,000, leaving Hometown Holidays’ grant award at $46,960 and splitting the extra money between the Arlington Farmers Market, the city’s Fourth of July event, the Arlington Street fair and the Gleneagle Golf Course’s Summerdaze 2026.
Before the vote, council member Logan said it appeared to her the committee tried to work with the council with the new recommendations.
“I think they’re trying to work with us,” she said. “For people who are uncomfortable with this counterproposal from our body, I would still need to know why. I’m still very puzzled on why we’re not working with the committee.”
Toyer said the matter had been discussed enough and wanted to move on to other city issues.
“I think we’ve had this conversation over and over,” he said. “We’ve got other things we need to discuss as a city. I mean, we can sit here all night and move numbers around, but I’m good with Aug. 4.”
Nelson, the lodging tax committee’s council representative, sided with the committee in the past and did once again during the Sept. 15 meeting.
The lodging tax committee did its best “to respect the council’s wishes,” she said, but also made sure the money was going to events that give the most back to the lodging tax fund.
Blythe did not want to take money away from Hometwon Holidays, she said.
“I think there was a nice amount of money for the city Hometown Holidays,” she said. “So many people in our community come out and enjoy that and spend time with their families and spend money in our town.”
Schuette said that SkyFest’s funding should not be reduced because the council denied a rental fee waiver SkyFest submitted this year. It was the first time in 10 years the council denied SkyFest’s rental waiver.
“This isn’t just about the $10,000 that’s taken away from the SkyFest here, you also took away $7,000 when you declined the permitting,” she said. “SkyFest is the largest event in Arlington. Fifteen thousand people, 300 apartments — if it wasn’t here, there would not be the money to even distribute to the rest of these people. I appreciate the commission going back and redistributing some of these funds to put in some of those other places, but I think it’s wrong to attack the largest event Arlington has.”
Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay
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