Mayor Doug Olerud and borough manager Annette Kreitzer traveled to Juneau this week to lobby for a $2.5 million funding match to replace the public safety building. The project is estimated to cost $31 million.
“It’s a lot of money we’re looking for,” Olerud said. “We don’t have it in the borough and there’s not really one source we can get it from. It’s going to be a long process.”
The current public safety building is over 40 years old. There is standing water and mold in the building’s crawlspace and part of the concrete floor in the bay where the Haines Volunteer Fire Department parks its trucks is tilting. Because of the misalignment, one of the electronic bay doors must be opened by hand.
Former fire chief Al Giddings traveled to Washington D.C with Olerud and Kreitzer earlier this month to urge Alaska’s congressional delegation to find funding for the project.
The borough will need to source funds from several state and federal sources, Olerud said.
Olerud and Kreitzer are also asking legislators in Juneau for more school funding through an increase in the base student allocation (BSA). Increasing the BSA is one of the core legislative priorities of the school district this year, along with adequate ferry service and creating statewide programs that attract and retain educators. Alaska has not increased its BSA since 2016.
The borough is also looking to replace the fenders on the Port Chilkoot Dock.
Olerud said the borough plans to fund the project using surplus funds from the commercial passenger vessel fee, a tax that cruise-ship passengers pay to port communities in Alaska. Money collected from this source can only be used on infrastructure that supports tourism, he said.