Funding secured for Port Townsend recreation center

Published 3:30 pm Thursday, April 16, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County recreation center will remain open through the end of the year following the success of a community fundraising effort.

The Board of Jefferson County Commissioners directed county staff to prepare materials for a levy lid lift for the ballot in August as a long-term solution.

The decision came during a special meeting last week which focused primarily on the potential closure of the county rec center, housed in the bottom half of the Port Townsend Community Center.

The center’s planned closure was part of Park and Recreation’s reduction following a $250,000 cut to the department’s roughly $1 million budget.

“We’re happy to report that a fund was started by concerned folk, through the Jefferson Community Foundation,” said Josh Peters, the county administrator. “The money has been raised to keep the rec center open for the rest of the year.”

The rec center needed $85,000 to stay open for the year.

“It’s our job as commissioners and as staff for the county to keep our focus on the long-term, more sustainable solutions,” Commissioner Heather Dudley-Nollette said.

Long-term solutions for keeping the rec center open were discussed last Friday. Those include a levy lid lift and a Metropolitan Park District (MPD).

“The current property tax cannot exceed $1.80 per $1,000 (of assessed property value),” Jefferson County Assessor Jeff Chapman said.

In 2014, the county considered a lid lift, but its property tax rate was already set at $1.67, Chapman said.

“It was only 13 cents shy of the max,” he continued. “We didn’t really have much room to work with.”

Over the years, assessed values have grown and the levy rate has dropped to 92 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

“We have room that we can do a lid lift,” Chapman said.

The lift being considered would be for Parks and Rec, community centers and possibly the fairgrounds, Chapman said.

The proposed increase is 15 cents, which would bring the rate to $1.07 per $1,000 of assessed property value, Chapman said. The lift is expected to bring in an additional $1.5 million.

For Port Townsend’s median home value, taxpayers would pay about $7 monthly, starting next year, Chapman said. A Chimacum resident would pay about $6 monthly while other parts of the county would pay closer to $5 per month because their values are lower, he added.

The money would cover the rec center, Memorial Field, North Beach and overhead for the rec program in general.

Chapman noted that while the lift would be countywide, different portions of the county would pay into their own rec services.

The lid lift would expire, if not renewed, after six years, Chapman said.

The county worked with the City of Port Townsend trying to form an MPD in 2012, but ultimately dropped the process. Chapman noted the two major problems as the challenge of drawing the boundaries of the MPD, and who is taxed for it and the expense of elections for the five commissioners required.

Getting the lid lift on the August or November ballot would make the funding available next year, should the measure pass, Chapman said.

Trying to get an MPD organized and formed before the end of the year could be a push, Chapman said.

A community committee has formed in support of putting an MPD on a ballot.

“What we’re suggesting is a narrowly focused MPD to serve two functions,” said Devon Buckham, a group representative. “It gets to the immediate issue, which is the potential loss of facilities and services which are currently provided, and the long-term issue, which is a structure that allows the community to have a level of input and participation to grow a future that we can all be a part of.”

While a levy lid lift would be a good step, it would bring service back to a status quo, Buckham said. Forming an MPD would allow the community to support a narrower set of desired services, he added.

An MPD can be triggered when a group forms a petition with support from 15 percent of residents within the proposed MPD’s borders.

The committee is still working through the details, but it has considered the Port Townsend city limits and the Port Townsend School District as possible boundaries, Buckham said.

The group plans to continue organizing and may register for November’s ballot, if August isn’t possible, Buckham said.

Peters explained the county’s financial bind, noting that the state continues to mandate services from counties that continue to go unfunded, including public defense, a service guaranteed by the state constitution.

Dudley-Nollette underlined the importance of pursuing beloved community services, like the rec center and other unmandated services.

“They are what I call a cultural mandate,” she said. “They are mandated by the people of our community. They are recognized as something that provides the quality of life that we want in our community.”

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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.