IOSA is on the ballot April 28 | Letter

Published 1:30 am Monday, April 13, 2026

For 40 years, this community has made sure someone shows up when something goes wrong on the water. Most of you already know what IOSA does. What you might not know is that we’re specifically named in San Juan County’s Proposition No. 1, the levy lid lift on the April 28 ballot.

San Juan County is not like other counties. We are surrounded by water. We have marine ecosystems that exist nowhere else. IOSA is to our waters what a fire department is to our neighborhoods; you hope you never need us, but when something goes wrong, we have to already be there. Stable, consistent funding is what allows community services like ours to grow into something truly valuable over time. That’s what this levy protects, not just for IOSA, but for a number of programs and services within our community.

This Prop 1 levy lift is not a new tax. It resets the county’s rate to the same level voters approved in 2019. Without it, our county faces $3.7 million in cuts in 2027. No new programs are being added; this is simply a vote to sustain what’s already working.

If you’re a San Juan County voter, ballots were mailed on April 7 and should be arriving now — we hope you’ll say yes. If you vote elsewhere, please pass this along to someone who lives here year-round. A message from someone they know carries more weight than anything official.

Thank you for caring — and for continuing to show up for our islands.

Elaina Thompson

Executive Director, Islands’ Oil Spill Association