The Haines Borough will consider reducing insurance rates for taxi companies following a request by a firm recently granted a borough taxi license.
Stanley Mazeikas is planning to start Miss Lucy Taxi Service and In-Town Tours but is asking the borough align its taxi insurance policies to be more similar to those in other Alaskan towns.
The borough currently requires $500,000 in general liability and an additional $500,000 in combined single limit for property damage or personal injury. That’s more insurance than is required for a cab in Juneau, Anchorage, or Fairbanks, according to Ned Rozbicki, a local insurance agent.
“You wouldn’t think there was more risk in the Haines Borough,” Rozbicki said.
Mazeikas said the current insurance requirements would cost him $4,000. “It’s an expense. I have to make $200 a week before I can make a dime, just to cover the cost of insurance. If the business comes in, that’s fine, but I don’t know what the business is going to be,” Mazeikas said.
Rozbicki suggested the borough change to a “split limit” requirement that provides $100,000 worth of coverage for an individual, $300,000 in coverage to all individuals and $50,000 for property damage. That would put Haines on par with the state’s largest cities, he said.
The assembly would have to change code to make the adjustment but assembly members last week seemed receptive to the change.
Mazeikas said he wouldn’t wait for the change to start up his business. “All the wheels are in motion. It’s just a question of when I can get out of the gate,” Mazeikas said.