Mud Bay, Lutak and Upper Valley residents are preparing to choose whether or not they want to create an on-call police service area in their neighborhoods. If they vote yes, their property taxes will increase to pay for police respone to, essentially, imminent threats to life and property. What happens if they vote no? If any or […]
Search results
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Assembly to rehash cannabis tax
Should the Haines Borough target only local marijuana growers with its new excise tax? Assembly members are split. The borough currently levies a $5 per ounce excise tax on “marijuana that is sold or transferred from a marijuana cultivation facility to a retail marijuana store or marijuana product manufacturing facility.” Haines Borough manager Debra Schnabel requested clarification from the assembly […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
It’s time to tax beverage containers
Back in the day, an eating establishment was likely to be a brick-and-mortar affair. Today, not so much. Heck, today you can serve great food right out of a trailer. But doing so takes an endless supply of disposable packaging, most of which walks away from the business and becomes trash in minutes. In many […]
Posted inNews, Public Safety
Voters to decide on police service areas
Voters in Mud Bay, Lutak and Haines Highway who live outside the townsite will have the option to create on-call police service areas in their neighborhoods when they head to the ballot box in October. The Haines Borough Assembly voted 4-2 Tuesday to approve an ordinance that, upon voter approval, will levy up to 1 mill in property taxes […]
Posted inNews
Tie vote stops waste ordinance from making ballot
A ballot question to create a publicly funded solid waste program stalled Tuesday after the Haines Borough Assembly’s split vote. The proposed ordinance that would levy up-to-a-1-percent sales tax to pay for the program passed during its first public hearing after Mayor Jan Hill broke a 3-3 tie. Hill was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, attending an Alaska Municipal League meeting […]
Posted inDuly Noted
Duly Noted
David Olerud is recovering from heart surgery at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage. Daughter Sarah Swinton said that Dave will be in Anchorage for six to eight weeks of rehabilitation. Letters can be dropped off at Olerud’s Market or mailed to the store at P.O. Box 1069 to be forwarded to Anchorage. Bill and Joyce Thomas returned from a trip to […]
Posted inElections, News
Rogers joins assembly race, three in the running
Another resident is eyeing an open seat on the Haines Borough Assembly for this October’s municipal election. Paul Rogers is still gathering signatures before he officially files for candidacy. Rogers, a Mosquito Lake resident, became more involved in local politics when the assembly began debating the merits of borough-wide policing. The assembly later appointed him to the […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Assembly delays rental tax exemption decision
The Haines Borough Assembly last week postponed taking action on an ordinance aimed at reducing expenses for long-term housing renters. This spring, assembly member Sean Maidy proposed exempting sales tax from long-term residential rentals. The borough’s sales tax rate is 5.5 percent. A person or family paying $1,000 a month on rent pays an additional $55 in […]
Posted inNews
AP&T rate payers could save money pending state commission decision
Haines residents may see a drop in electrical rates and/or a rebate if a recommendation from the state attorney general’s office is adopted. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska held a hearing with Alaska Power & Telephone company in Juneau in June to evaluate whether lower rates are warranted based on benefits they received from corporate […]
Posted inThank You Letters
Thanks for making pool free for young swimmers
So many times we criticize and complain about government, especially our local one, the Haines Borough Assembly. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the Haines Borough Assembly people for making our pool free for youth 17 and under. It was a generous and progressive action that deserves acknowledgement. Swimming, in a coastal fishing town in […]