Health Care District passes budget

The Vashon Health Care District (VHCD) unanimously adopted its 2025 annual budget on Nov. 25. The board of five commissioners passed the motion 4-0; commissioner Wendy Noble was absent that evening.

(The Beachcomber detailed the budget in its Nov. 21 edition.)

Following passage of the budget, the board entered an executive session to evaluate the performance of Superintendent Tim Johnson, followed by a public discussion of his contract and pay. (The budget raises his compensation from about $85,600 in 2024 to about $92,700 next year, an 8.3% increase.)

That increase is relevant as the district’s activities ramp up, commissioners said. Prior to the executive session, Johnson said his average amount of weekly hours has continued to climb as the district’s activities become greater and more complex.

“We didn’t really anticipate the workload that urgent care, behavioral health and all of this would hoist upon our superintendent,” VHCD board president Tom Langland during the meeting, said prior to the executive session.

The district could not come to an agreement that night and decided to come back to Johnson’s contract on Dec. 18, meaning he will be working without a contract until the board agrees on one.

Though not part of the district’s budget package, Johnson this year also prepared a capital plan for, if needed, acquiring the upcoming Sea Mar clinic at the site of the old Spinnaker building, in the event that the primary care provider left the island.

The plan is just a plan, and VHCD has no intention to buy the clinic now, Johnson said. The plan only analyzes the period between 2027 and 2032; past then, its financial forecasts aren’t relevant.

“This is not a plan to act pre-emptively but to be able to act if needed … for risk management purposes,” Johnson told The Beachcomber. “The longer we don’t have to react to that type of a scenario the better, because it allows building reserves … as well as not requiring the district to fiscally manage primary care. We just maintain the resources … that combine to make taking primary care back on without trading out the other programs we are doing possible. It’s making sure our grasp keeps up with our reach.”

The plan outlines the funding needed, and where to get it, in such a situation. VHCD holds an option to purchase the clinic at fair market value (estimated at $8 million), according to the district, reduced by a $3 million pre-funded state grant, resulting in a net estimated cost of $5 million.

According to VHCD, that $5 million cost would come from the following sources (not taking into account any fundraising efforts or changes in market value or the district’s finances):

• $500,000 already reserved in the existing capital reserve fund.

• Raising an additional $2 million for the capital fund through levy funds from 2025 to 2032, contributing $250,000 annually. (Doing so is already part of the district’s plans to build that fund in its 2025 budget.)

• Financing the remaining balance through a general obligation bond with terms of 15 or 20 years, contingent upon exercising the purchase option between 2027 and 2032. The bond would operate at a 4% annual interest rate, and its amount would vary between $2.5 million and $3.75 million depending on when VHCD exercised the option (and how much levy money it had banked in its capital fund).

WSF celebrates improved sailing reliability

Washington State Ferries completed 99.46% of its scheduled sailings over Thanksgiving week, the agency reported on Dec. 5 — a reliability score that was the agency’s best since 2019, according to WSF.

This reliability percentage measures how many scheduled trips actually sail, and is separate from on-time performance, which measures how many of those trips depart within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time.

Though crewing has improved, service remains below pre-pandemic levels due to limited vessels, according to WSF, which said that ridership reached nearly 289,000 trips from Wednesday through Sunday — up from roughly 272,000 in 2023.

Mukai auctioning historic tree descendants

Mukai Farm & Garden is auctioning five cherry trees descended from the 100 cherry trees which were donated in 1932 by Vashon’s Japanese community association to the Vashon Island School District. The trees up for auction are clones descended directly from the few remaining original trees near Vashon High School.

Learn more by visiting mukaifarmandgarden.org.

Public meetings

The following taxing districts, government bodies, utility providers and citizen groups have civic meetings coming up concerning islanders.

• Vashon Health Care District’s next board meeting is at 7 p.m. on Dec. 18 at the Vashon Presbyterian Church (17708 Vashon Hwy SW) and on Zoom. Visit vashonhealthcare.org for more information.

• Vashon Island School District’s next board meeting is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 at Chautauqua Elementary School, Room 302, 9309 SW Cemetery Road. This is the last regularly scheduled meeting before the end of the year. Visit vashonsd.org for more information.

• Vashon Island Fire & Rescue: The board will hold a special meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 at 10019 SW Bank Rd, also accessible on Zoom, to discuss its leadership transition. Visit vifr.org/events for more details. That meeting will be followed by a regular board meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 30.