Messages from mayoral and assembly candidates at the Haines Chamber of Commerce’s Sept. 9 forum were largely the same. The eight candidates—two mayoral and six assembly— emphasized working together and the need to create more business opportunities in Haines to help stimulate the economy, without offering many specifics.
Areas where the candidates distinguished themselves included COVID-19 response and solutions for balancing the budget.
Assembly candidates Cheryl D. Stickler, Brenda Josephson, Jerry Lapp, and mayoral candidates Douglas Olerud and Jan Hill said they opposed mandating COVID-19 mitigation measures.
“I do not support any additional mandates. I support choice,” Hill said. “When we went from being locked down to having choices of going out and about, and having our businesses be open, it was like Christmas.”
“We have to get to work, and we have to be able to stay at work,” Stickler said.
Assembly candidates Caitie Kirby, Helen Alten and Carol Tuynman didn’t offer opinions on mandates. Instead, when it came to addressing COVID-19, they criticized the speed at which community CARES Act funds have been distributed, saying they wish the current assembly had disbursed them more quickly and done a better job seeking community input when making funding decisions.
“I felt that the (COVID-19) money was very slow to get into our community,” Alten said, adding that she wished the assembly had taken advantage of external resources like the Haines Economic Development Corporation to determine how to disburse funds.
Incumbents—Josephson, Lapp and Hill—pushed back against this idea, praising the way the current government is handling CARES Act disbursement and the way the current assembly is functioning over all.
“I think the borough has done an outstanding job,” Hill said, noting that it takes time for borough staff to set up programs, make sure they comply with federal guidelines and process applications.
When asked about ideas for increasing revenue and reducing costs to balance the borough budget, candidates had a range of ideas for increasing revenue.
Lapp, Stickler and Olerud said growing the business community would be a way to increase revenue for the borough by increasing the tax base.
“As far as increasing revenue, the best way to do that is to have more business taking place in Haines,” Olerud said. “You’ve got more people living here, you’ve got more people spending money, it’s going to increase sales tax, property tax.”
Tuynman said the borough should be working to raise money for cultural institutions by seeking outside grants. Kirby said the borough’s permanent fund could be an option for bolstering finances.
“I do think this might be the kind of rainy day our permanent fund is stashed away for,” Kirby said. “I think dipping into that a little bit could boost our economy, especially if it is done in a way that will promote more small businesses to survive this.”
Alten said the community might need to consider raising taxes to make ends meet.
“We’re at a point where we either are cut, cut, cut until we don’t have anything, or we need to look at revenue and options for revenue,” Alten said.
Other candidates were less supportive of taxes as a revenue option. Tuynman said she could see taxes being raised for specific infrastructure improvements like a solid waste program. Kirby said she thought a tax increase could be an option in the future but not right now, given the current economic climate.
Josephson, Stickler, Lapp and Hill said they outright opposed tax increases.
“I adamantly oppose any kind of tax increase. I’d rather look for revenue resources,” Lapp said.
Olerud said a tax increase should be a last resort.
Although candidates named funding priorities like education, public safety and capital projects, they avoided naming specific areas for budget cuts.
Candidates across the board said they supported business growth in Haines by diversifying the economy.
Kirby and Tuynman said attracting workers with “location neutral” jobs—jobs that can be performed remotely—could be a potential avenue for growth.
“One of the reasons we really need to seriously look at this because it’s a low cost output to start it, and it could bring in millions of dollars of taxpayer revenue and support for the infrastructure and other things we want to do,” Tuynman said.
Josephson, Lapp, Stickler and Hill said they supported diversifying the economy through natural resource development.
“We’ve got a tremendous resource here in Haines, which is the Haines State Forest, and I would really like to see opportunities for value added industries in Haines State foresting,” Josephson said, listing the fishing fleet as another example of a local natural resource.
Forty-three people, including candidates, attended the forum, which was held via Zoom.