By Jessica Edwards
At a crowded meeting Tuesday night, the Haines Borough Assembly tabled
action on a permit for Temsco Helicopters, Inc. to operate summer tours within the borough
on the Meade and Ferebee glaciers.
The Skagway-based company has been operating summer helicopter tours in
Haines nearly 15 years without paying sales tax, or holding a business license or a tour
permit. Tour permits have been required by borough code since 2002, and borough business
licenses have been required for decades.
"We haven’t been trying to slide by or do anything
illegally," said Dave Herbig, Skagway base manager for Temsco since 1985. "We
didn’t know until last year we needed to have a (tour) permit."
Herbig said the company hadn’t remitted borough sales tax because
of a "gentleman’s agreement" dating to the late 1980s between Haines and
Skagway that operators would pay the municipality in which the majority of the tour took
place. "We are trying to play by all the rules."
Assembly members cited lack of pertinent data in the permit application
as the reason for postponing the vote. The assembly will revisit the Temsco permit
application May 13.
Members expressed concerns that designated landing areas within the
borough were not marked on the map provided of the Meade Glacier. Absent from the
application was a map indicating flight and landing paths on the Ferebee Glacier.
Also missing were the number of landings per season at each location,
the number of passengers taking the tour annually, and rationale for the rate of a $1
proposed head tax (in place of a sales tax).
Borough manager Robert Venables was directed to research legal issues
associated with the permit, and members questioned whether back taxes could be collected
from the company.
If the permit is approved, the assembly must amend the borough’s
special use designation map, which specifies approved helicopter flight and landing zones.
Of 12 residents addressing the permit questions, nine urged caution or
spoke against issuing it. Several opponents were upper valley residents also concerned
about enforcement of winter heli-ski operations.
"I feel they should pay restitution," said Floy McDowell,
adding that fines and retro-billing were appropriate steps for a company that had done
something and "asked permission after the fact."
Rob Goldberg also pointed to the 1996 citizens’ initiative in
which 55 percent of borough residents opposed summer heli-tourism. He suggested the
borough deny the permit and take steps to recoup back sales tax.
Gordon Whitermore said giving Temsco a toehold in the borough could
lead to the unwanted expansion of summer heli-tourism in the valley.
"I pretty much decided I don’t want to do hiking tours to
Battery Point because of helicopter noise," said tour operator Joe Ordonez, who also
pointed to noise from tour boats. He said he had seen and heard Temsco helicopters flying
through the canal to access the Meade Glacier during bad weather.
"I support this tour," said Don Turner III. "If you look
at the flight paths, there are no Haines houses there. There’s not a whole lot of
impact in Haines."
Temsco last year requested the U.S. Forest Service permit an additional
2,800 landings on the Meade Glacier, landings shifted from West Creek Glacier in Skagway.
Rapid melting of the West Creek Glacier, which is managed by BLM, had compromised safe
landing places there, according to Temsco.
Also within the Haines Borough, Temsco this year is renewing a
five-year BLM permit for 1,100 landings on the Ferebee Glacier. Starting about two years
ago, BLM changed its permitting procedures to require proof of all required municipal
permits. Temsco’s BLM permit expired December 31, 2007, and the company is hoping to
renew it for the next five years.
In response to Temsco’s request to transfer 2,800 landings from
West Creek Glacier to the Meade, the Forest Service July 20, 2007 sent a letter to the
Haines Borough requesting municipal feedback.
According to Forest Service land specialist Mike Driscoll, his agency
received no reply.
Increased landings on the Meade will require an environmental
assessment, Driscoll said, because Temsco’s request put them over the Forest Service
maximum of 4,006 landings.
"(Temsco is) shooting for this summer," he said.
"I’m assuming the analysis won’t be done for this tourist season." The
Forest Service will review the environmental assessment, which will include information
about effects on wildlife, before making a recommendation.
Borough assembly member Norm Smith said he resurrected the issue of
Temsco’s questionable operation in the borough, an issue that had come before the
assembly two years ago. Smith said after he discovered recently that Temsco hadn’t
responded to a November 2006 letter from the letter requesting they to comply, he’d
pushed borough staff to act.
Borough manager Robert Venables said he’d been working on the
Temcso issue "on and off for a couple of years," sending letters over the last
couple of years asking the company to register as a business and remit sales tax.
"It’s just in the last couple of years we’ve started working on their
case."
At Tuesday’s assembly meeting, Herbig said he’d never
received the 2006 letter, which had been sent to Temsco’s Juneau office.
"I’m out of Skagway, if you haven’t noticed," he said.
Three Temsco representatives met April 14 with Mayor Fred Shields,
Venables and Smith to discuss bringing the company into compliance with borough code.
Smith said Temsco balked at paying full sales tax because they
didn’t use borough facilities, and had suggested instead a tax rate of $1 per person,
with an annual five percent increase for the next ten years.
Smith said he would support the Temsco permit to operate using
traditional landing spots in the borough, provided they were in compliance with borough
code, but questioned the proposed tax rate of $1 a head as too low.
Temsco pays an average of $1.17 per person to the municipality of
Juneau for glacier landings there. Herbig said company representatives had worked with
Haines Borough staff to come with the $1 head tax, which would take the place of lengthy
sales tax calculations on numerous products and prices offered by the company.
Borough chief fiscal officer Jila Stewart said Juneau’s $1.17
reflected a 5 percent rate of tax in that municipality, while for the areas of
Temsco’s proposed operation, the rate would be 4 percent.
Smith also said the borough should look into recouping considerable
lost sales tax revenue.
Tour permit opponent Nancy Berland of Lynn Canal Conservation said the
company should be liable for back taxes at the rate paid by other tour operators in the
borough.
Forgiving corporations and not individuals for back taxes was a
disturbing trend, she said. "To have it happen in our backyard hurts," said
Berland. "I wouldn’t be forgiven on back property taxes."
Assembly member Doug Olerud said in an interview that it would be
important to keep the 1996 citizens’ initiative in mind while approving a permit
allowing Temsco to operate in the borough.
He said he thought it was possible to grant Temsco a tour permit
because their activity was historical, predating the 1996 vote. But Olerud said it would
be important for the borough to seek legal advice when granting Temsco a permit so as to
prevent opening summer tourism to other operators.
