Disaster-impacted property owners eligible for tax reduction
The assembly adopted an ordinance allowing the borough to offer tax relief to disaster-impacted property owners by retroactively revising assessed property value.
Property owners who suffered more than $10,000 in property damage during the early December storms will be eligible to apply for reassessment. The property owner must provide evidence of the estimated loss such as insurance documents or repair quotes.
The ordinance was developed after a request from some Beach Road property owners for a moratorium on taxes while their properties remained cut off from town.
An estimated 31 people boroughwide are eligible to apply for reassessment, according to borough chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart. If everyone applies, borough property tax revenue in FY21, the current fiscal year, would decrease by roughly $4,500.
Assessed values are typically based on property condition as of Jan. 1 and, combined with mill rate, determine how much a person owes in property taxes in a given year. For FY21, value was based on property condition as of Jan. 1, 2020.
Post-disaster property values would be based on assessed values for the upcoming fiscal year, FY22.
For the purpose of FY22 taxes, land value for homes in the Beach Road “green zone” was reduced by 35%. Land value for homes in the “red zone” was reduced by 50%, and land value for properties destroyed by the Dec. 2 landslide was reduced by 95%. The value of damaged structures on properties boroughwide was reevaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Borough considers replacing Letnikof floats
The Haines Borough is set to receive $90,000 in federal relief funding from the 2016 pink salmon disaster.
“The idea was to put it toward Letnikof float design, but this isn’t decided yet. We’re going through (the Port and Harbor Advisory Committee) and taking it through the public process,” harbormaster Shawn Bell said.
After a run failure in 2016 in communities throughout the Gulf of Alaska, the U.S. Congress approved $56 million in relief, including $2.4 million for communities. Eligible towns in the affected area are those where at least $10,000 worth of pink salmon was landed in 2016.
The funding each town receives is based on the discrepancy between 2016 fishery landing taxes and an average of taxes from 2012 and 2014. Funds can be spent on federally-approved projects that support infrastructure, services or habitat that will help pink salmon commercial fisheries.
“My idea was to invest a little money and time into Letnikof floats because they are coming to the end of their service life, at least the steel pipe float, and a lot of fishermen tie up to that float in the summer. Having that float to support the commercial fleet is pretty important,” Bell said.
The committee is currently fleshing out an idea for the new float design before it makes a recommendation to the assembly, he said. The hope is to finalize the concept in time to conduct design work over the winter.
Bell said it’s too soon to give a cost estimate for the project, but he anticipates the grant will need to be supplemented with money from the harbor enterprise fund to cover design costs. The borough will need to secure another funding source for the construction phase.