SEQUIM — It’s a trendy program embraced by cities across the nation and is believed by many to enhance international understanding among people around the globe.

But some say the sister city exchange program — the pairing of cities in the United States with those in foreign countries — can also be a financial burden that strains budgets in lean economic times.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sequim’s sister city relationship with Yamasaki, Japan, a delegation of students and chaperones from the Sequim School District on Friday joined Mayor Walt Schubert and Public Works Director Jim Bay in a trip to Yamasaki.

The students will stay 10 days, but Schubert and Bay will return Tuesday.

Students pay their own travel expenses with a combination of family contributions and fund-raising proceeds. They stay with host families during their trip.

Schubert and Bay are staying in a hotel.

Schubert’s expenses are being paid partly by him and partly through a sister-city fund administered through the Sequim-Dungeness Area Chamber of Commerce.

But the cost of Bay’s trip will come out of city funds, said City Manager Bill Elliott.

Bay — now on his fourth Yamasaki excursion — said his trips serve a public purpose because they give him a chance to see how another city facilitates public works services.

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The rest of the story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News.