Threats of a government shutdown stemming from the Alaska Legislature’s failure to pass a state budget have provoked anxiety in Haines, where 49 people could be laid off.

According to Scot Arehart, the state’s Division of Finance director, 49 state employees in Haines received layoff notices that went out June 1. At Gov. Bill Walker’s orders, the state sent out 10,000 letters notifying employees of the impending layoffs to begin July 1 in the event the legislature does not pass a fully-funded budget by that time.

Arehart said of the 49 employees in Haines who stand to be laid off, 21 are with the Department of Transportation, 23 are with the Department of Fish and Game, four are with the Department of Natural Resources and one is with the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Mark Sogge, Fish and Game’s assistant management biologist for commercial fisheries, said he received the letter but is hoping the move is just political jockeying that will be resolved by July 1.

“I’m not going to believe it until I see it,” Sogge said. “You wait until it actually works out and see what happens rather than listen to the rhetoric.”

In the event the legislature is still at an impasse by July 1, Sogge said the layoffs would be “amazingly bad for the fishery and for the economy” of Haines. “We would have to alter our management style altogether on the commercial side,” he said.

In the absence of employees to collect information, which the department heavily relies on to determine its management, fisheries would have to be managed conservatively, Sogge said.

The absence of collected information this year would also affect future management. “We depend on information that is consistently gathered over a big, long series of years. If we have a gap, then we can’t estimate for the future as well,” Sogge said.

Layoffs aren’t the only shutdown repercussion that would be felt in Haines. Walker’s plan would also stop all the Alaska Marine Highway System ferries from running.

According to DOT spokesperson Jeremy Woodrow, all 11 ferries would return to their home ports and stop providing passenger service. “If we do have to enter a shutdown, we will have limited reservation staff on hand to start making phone calls to inform travelers this may happen or this has happened,” Woodrow said.

DOT will issue refunds in the event of a shutdown, he said.

Former Mayor Stephanie Scott sent an email to Walker, Sen. Dennis Egan and Rep. Sam Kito stating she was “appalled” that the ferry system isn’t considered an “essential service” of the state.

“The marine highway enables us to deliver and to acquire essential goods and services. Tying up the ferries is the equivalent of grounding airplanes and putting barriers across roads – neither of which are to be considered in a government shutdown scenario. Please indicate your concurrence and direct the AMHS to continue to supply service even in the event of a shutdown of state government, because the AMHS is most certainly an essential service,” Scott wrote.

In an interview last week, Kito, a House Democrat, said he is hopeful the legislature won’t shut down, but legislators are still “having difficulties” reaching a resolution on the budget.

“I’d like to say we won’t get there, but if we don’t get there, it will happen,” Kito said.

“We are working in good faith with the Senate majority to make sure we get to a reasonable solution. We are concerned about the Senate majority taking an unreasonable stance on the issues that we are in the process of negotiating,” including education funding and the approval of previously-negotiated labor contracts for state employees, Kito said.

Kito said it has been frustrating that the legislature’s extended session is being held in Anchorage. “I’m concerned about what that sets as a precedent for Alaska. We are pretty much working in and out of a single room in the LIO (legislative information office) building that I don’t think is adequately suited for the task that we are performing,” he said.

Walker called the legislature into special session after it passed a $5 billion budget with only $2 billion of identified funding.