Langley Mayor Tim Callison will lobby the Island County Council of Governments for more than half a million dollars in Coupeville today.

If successful, the money will go toward improving the city in a number of different areas, namely infrastructure and increasing visitor volume, according to the Langley’s application for rural county economic development funds. Callison, however, isn’t holding his breath.

“We’ll see if we get anything at all,” the mayor said in a Monday interview. “Being in Langley, we tend to color outside the lines in the coloring book. It’s a little unusual from what they’ve seen in the past.”

At a May 25 meeting, Callison requested $576,000 to bolster its commercial center/economic core, and stimulate tourism, small conferences and business relocations. But review of the city’s application was tabled. Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson and Commissioner Richard Hannold requested individual meetings with Callison, hoping for clarification on the application’s objectives.

According to Commissioner Helen Price Johnson, economic development funds are typically approved for applications that show singular or overarching objectives. Callison’s proposed use of the money was multi-faceted, which required further consideration.

The council of governments selects the projects it believes are best and then forwards its recommendations to the county commissioners for final approval.

Currently, the requested funds could be split like slices of pie and cater to a variety of different needs in the city, Callison said. A large portion of the requested funds could finance personnel in economic development offices, Callison said, while other slices could address capital improvements such as the renovation of the visitor information center, restroom or arts projects like the facelift of Seawall Park. Another large focus will be making the city more attractive for tourists, as well as historic preservation.

“They’re all fitting in with different purposes,” Callison said. “Some are visual improvements, some are to encourage bicycle tourism which is growing.”

But, Callison said he is willing to modify the city’s application if it will help it past muster with the council. How that could be done is one of the things to be discussed during today’s meeting.

Callison said $50,000 of the requested funds will go toward the Langley Arts Commission’s proposed $800,000 Seawall Park renovation. It will act as the first step in an effort to draw funds to tackle the hefty project, he said.

About one-third of the potential funds will go toward smaller capital projects the city can’t afford, such as a stairway and hand rail down to Seawall Park from the access at the Dog House on First Street.

Callison said the problem Langley faces is that the city’s budget is dependent on sales, excise, property and hotel and accomodation taxes, which doesn’t generate enough revenue to allow for the purchasing of items in its grant requests. So, a significant amount of the requested funds will go toward improving Langley’s visibility as a tourist destination, he said.

Callison said the city will also look elsewhere to acquire additional funding.

“We’ll try for every grant we can,” Callison said. “We’ll try to get transportation improvement grants for our street and city blocks. We’re not a city that generates enormous amounts of revenue. To put in the improvements that citizens would like to see, we’d have to start somewhere.”

Price Johnson said the council moved forward with the rural economic development funds applications for the Freeland Sewer  and Water District, Port of Coupeville, City of Oak Harbor and Port of South Whidbey.

While she could not predict the outcome of today’s meeting, she felt Callison’s application was innovative.

“I think it’s great that the City of Langley is looking for innovative ways to create economic development that really capitalizes on their strengths like art and tourism and beach access,” Price Johnson said. I think that’s worthy and I applaud their efforts. We just need to find the right vehicle moving forward.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that revenue from taxes were falling. In actuality, tax revenues are up from previous averages.