Roughly $60 million more came into the Haines Borough economy last year, creating close to a 10 percent increase in sales tax revenue from 2017.

In a year-end sales tax revenue report released last week, the Haines Borough reported $3.3 million in revenue, marking a third year of steady increase across nearly all industries.

Retail, tourism and petroleum and auto accounted for the largest grossing industries for sales tax revenue.

Retail, including groceries, liquor and clothing, increased by nearly 4 percent—or about $63,000. The retail industry contributed close to $886,000 to the Haines Borough in 2018.

The tourism industry —the next largest revenue sector — increased at nearly 14 percent from 2017 and brought in nearly $624,000 in sales tax revenue.

Haines Borough tourism director Carolann Wooton said that number is low. Revenue grossed by tourism is bigger than it appears, and spread across all industries.

“Anything you see from May to October could be correlated to tourism,” she said. “You can definitely say short-term lodging goes directly to tourism, gift shops and art seasonally goes to tourism. Anything to do with eating and drinking or lodging, that all has to do with tourism.”

The petroleum and auto industry, including auto mechanics, parts and fuel, saw the largest increase this year at 7 percent, or about $92,000.

Paul Nelson, president at Bigfoot Auto, attributes the growth to construction and tourism.

“We had our biggest year ever,” Nelson said this week. “There was a lot going on last summer with more construction and more tourism.”

On Tuesday, assembly member Heather Lende asked the borough manager why fuel tax saw such a large increase. Manager Debra Schnabel said she did not know.

“When I saw the CFO’s report, I immediately equated it to the road project,” assembly member Brenda Josephson said.

Construction revenue saw the next largest increase by almost $39,000 from 2017 to 2018. The industry looks at sales tax charged by hardware stores, general contractors, carpenters, plumbers and handymen.

Last April marked the beginning of Southeast Construction’s widening of the Haines Highway between milepost 3.9 and 12.2. The roadwork is part of a three-phase project, reaching as far as milepost 24, slated for completion by 2024.

Southeast Construction project engineer Bryce Iverson said that on any given day, there are 50 people working on the project.

A representative from Southeast Roadbuilders said that it’s a fair assumption that the highway project affected construction and fuel revenues, although materials directly used for the highway project aren’t taxed for government projects.

“Let’s say we’re buying repair parts that we’re using for the project, that would be taxed because it’s hard to prove that directly,” the representative said.

Art revenues from galleries, photographers and seasonal gift shops increased by close to $5,000.

Commercial and residential long-term rentals was the only sector that saw a decrease in revenue by $2,000.

For the last two months of 2018, the Haines Borough Assembly adopted an ordinance exempting long-term residential renters from paying sales tax.

Haines Borough finance officer Jila Stuart said that the rising funds to the Haines economy is likely affected by new projects in the Haines Borough. “I think it’s possible that the workers coming to town for the harbor project, for the highway project and tourists have an impact,” she said.

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