A ferry system study by the McDowell Group on the economic benefits of the Alaska Marine Highway System also found that 51 ferry system employees were living in Haines in 2014, making the town Alaska’s third-highest for ferry employment, behind Ketchikan (318) and Juneau (297).
The municipality also ranks third in the state behind those cities in terms of a destination for ferry pay and benefits, with more than $5 million in 2014, or 5 percent of total ferry payroll.
The local residency figures came as a surprise to officials with McDowell and some workers at the ferry terminal, where 10 workers were employed in 2014. Systemwide, shipboard employees outnumber shoreside workers six to one.
“When I read it, I said, ‘Wow,’” said Fuzzy von Stauffenberg, Haines terminal manager and a 22-year ferry employee. “I didn’t know there were that many residents working for the ferry system.”
Jim Calvin, a partner in the McDowell Group, said the number also caught the attention of researchers. “That’s a lot for Haines.” He said the employee numbers were supplied by the ferry system as home addresses and include part-time and seasonal workers.
It would be difficult to determine if employees who provide Haines as a home address actually live here, Calvin said.
State Department of Transportation spokesman Jeremy Woodrow said the figures came from two ferry system databases. “Due to employee confidentiality requirements, we cannot provide a list of employee names with the place of residence,” Woodrow said.
Haines Chamber of Commerce executive director Debra Schnabel said this week she didn’t believe the Haines employment numbers. “I thought it was a little odd. I wonder when was the last time they purged their (employment) list.”
Schnabel said the actual benefit of ferry employee residency would be blunted somewhat by the large percentage of payroll benefits that goes to health insurance companies. “But it’s not a bad idea to have Alaska Marine Highway employees living here. I’ve never thought of actually soliciting them to live here, but that could be done.”