Quarterly sales tax collections down
Sales tax collections submitted to the Haines Borough for the first quarter of 2019 are down 3.6 percent, or $17,000, from the same quarter last year.
Borough manager Debra Schnabel said the reasons for the dip are a poor heliskiing season, costing the borough about $8,000, and the borough assembly’s decision to no longer collect sales tax on long-term rentals, passed in September.
The borough collected $466,864 in sales tax revenue between Jan. 1 and March 31.
Collections were also down $14,000 from the last three months of 2018, despite a boost from online retail sales tax receipts — $14,731 — which the borough began collecting in January from online vendors such as Amazon, Netflix, Overstock.com and SlingTV.
Alcohol and marijuana tax will go to voters
The Haines Borough Assembly introduced an ordinance June 27 that, if adopted, will ask voters in the Oct. 1 municipal election to adopt new 3 percent sales taxes on both alcohol and marijuana. The assembly vote to put the question on the ballot was 4-1, with member Tom Morphet opposed.
Borough manager Debra Schnabel “strongly recommended” the assembly separate alcohol and marijuana taxes into two questions for better odds of passage. Previously, the borough believed the items needed to be lumped together in a single ballot measure, but borough clerk Alekka Fullerton said a recent Alaska Supreme Court reading proved that is not true. Alcohol still cannot be taxed higher than any other sales tax.
“There is much more acceptance of alcohol than there is marijuana, though now both are legal,” Schnabel said. “So, my belief is people will not want to tax alcohol and they will want to tax marijuana,” she said.
Morphet disagreed.
“I think the pairing will work because people will say, ‘hey, whatever narcotic you’re using, you’re paying that tax,’” he said.
Schnabel said the tax would include sales at liquor stores and bars.
Assembly members Brenda Josephson and Sean Maidy were said they were concerned that if the assembly lumps the two taxes together in a single vote, it would fail.
“I think lumping these two different items into the same category is not intelligent,” Maidy said. “I think people have completely different views on the two. I think splitting the question could benefit the total populace.”
The ordinance is scheduled for its first public hearing on July 18 at 6:30 p.m. in assembly chambers.
Town hall on Chilkat kings
A town hall meeting about Chilkat king salmon organized by the Haines Borough will be held 3:30 p.m. Friday, July 12 in assembly chambers.
The meeting will include reports on how the decline of the run has impacted Chilkat Valley residents and fishermen, an explanation of the state Department of Fish and Game’s efforts to reverse the run’s decline, and a discussion of options for boosting the king salmon return.
Spawning Chilkat king salmon have missed escapement goals for six of the past seven years.
Scheduled speakers will include representatives of subsistence, sport and commercial fisheries. Mayor Jan Hill will moderate the meeting.
Assembly member Tom Morphet, who pushed for the meeting, said he hoped that a meeting of fisheries managers and residents might help generate new ideas or show support for approaches that haven’t yet been tried.
Morphet extended the invite to Alaska Department of Fish and Game commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang, but he has not yet responded.
Manager reports “bad news”
The Haines Borough is receiving less federal money this year from a federal fund—called Payment in Lieu of Taxes– intended to help municipalities offset property taxes from federal lands in their jurisdiction, borough manager Debra Schnabel reported Thursday.
Schnabel said the Haines Borough will be receiving about $54,000 less than budgeted.
Another unexpected cost to the borough is a $45,000 hike in insurance.
Schnabel said that the Haines Borough is eligible for a 5 percent discount if it stays with Alaska Public Entities Insurance for another three years, which staff has analyzed and determine to be the most cost-effective option.