More than $14,000 initially designated for nonprofits will be rolled over and added to the Haines Borough’s $2.8 million areawide general fund balance following a Tuesday decision by the assembly.
The assembly was trying to figure out what to do with the $14,500 the Haines Animal Rescue Kennel refused to accept during its nonprofit funding cycle. HARK had informed former manager David Sosa it did not want to accept those funds from the “community chest,” and that the money should go to the other nonprofits.
“We worked long and hard to negotiate a smaller, very different contract than we’ve had in the past specifically so that community chest money would remain in the community chest,” HARK executive director Tracy Mikowski told the assembly Tuesday. “We did not accept those funds, because we felt it would be a huge disservice to our fellow nonprofits.”
“We were never told – nor was it implied – that if we didn’t use the $14,000 that it would be removed from the community chest and made unavailable to any of the other nonprofits,” Mikowski added.
But when tasked with redistributing that money, a nonprofit funding committee comprised of Mayor Jan Hill, assembly member Diana Lapham and assembly member Mike Case decided it would rather keep the money in the borough’s areawide general fund.
When the committee’s recommendation came before the assembly this week, assembly member Ron Jackson proposed distributing the $14,500 among the six organizations that didn’t receive their full funding requests during the initial cycle.
That would have meant an extra $7,750 for the Chilkat Valley Preschool, $4,520 for Takshanuk Watershed Council, $1,030 for the Haines Dolphins Swim Team, $680 for Haines Avalanche Information Center and $480 for Haines Friends of Recycling.
Assembly member George Campbell immediately balked. “Our No. 1 priority is our wastewater treatment plant. Our No. 2 priority is our Lutak Dock. Our No. 3 priority is our boat harbor. Respectfully, Mr. Jackson, I don’t see where your motion is getting us any closer to any of those three projects,” Campbell said.
That comment irked assembly member Margaret Friedenauer, who rebutted that maintaining quality of life is the assembly’s first priority. Friedenauer said she felt “really uncomfortable” about banking the money in the general fund when HARK had explicitly denied the $14,500 and expressed its desire for the funds to be used for other nonprofits.
Friedenauer pointed out the money had already been allocated and was intended for nonprofits, and that Jackson’s proposal would be “respectful of everyone’s intentions.”
Assembly member Diana Lapham seemed initially torn on the issue, but ultimately voted against Jackson’s proposal.
“I understand it’s been appropriated for the nonprofits,” Lapham said. “We are also coming into a budget cycle that we may wind up doing away with funding for nonprofits just because we’re going to be strapped to try to get money to fund our services.”
The group ultimately voted 3-2 on Jackson’s motion to redistribute, with assembly members Jackson, Friedenauer and Case in favor. Motions require four votes to pass. Assembly member Tresham Gregg was absent.
Chilkat Valley Preschool president Alissa Henry spoke before the vote and urged the assembly to support nonprofits that provide essential services to the community. In an interview after the meeting, she said she was disappointed in the group’s decision.
“It just doesn’t seem ethical, because that money was in the community chest. It was already set aside for nonprofits. It just seems really wrong that they aren’t going to redistribute it to the nonprofits,” Henry said.