The Haines Borough Assembly will travel to the cannery community of Excursion Inlet for an open-house meeting Tuesday. The trip is intended as an outreach to remote residents who sometimes chafe at paying borough taxes for what they see as little return. The assembly earlier this year appropriated about $5,000 for road improvements there. Excursion residents pay […]
Search results
Posted inNews
Borough workers get 3 percent-plus raise
The Haines Borough Assembly last week unanimously approved a three-year contract with its employees’ union, including an immediate 3 percent raise for all positions and smaller raises the next two years. The contract also includes raises larger than 3 percent for 26 of about 75 borough jobs. They include 15.5 percent for pool custodian, 7 percent for […]
Posted inNews
Fair gets borough funds for hall work Last-minute budget plea nets $175K
The Haines Borough Assembly on Tuesday approved its $11.7 million budget for the coming year, including a $175,000 appropriation to the Southeast Alaska State Fair to help renovate Harriet Hall into a convention center. Discussion of the fair appropriation came at the last of three public hearings on the budget, following Gov. Sean Parnell’s veto of $277,000 […]
Posted inNews
Veto ax kills fair funds, dock sale Residents opposed funding source for requests
Some residents opposed $2 million in state funding for Klukwan’s purchase of the Chilkat Cruises dock and vessel and $277,000 for renovation of the fair’s Harriett Hall as a convention center, staff to Gov. Sean Parnell’s budget director said this week. State Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, submitted the two requests to be funded from cruise ship […]
Posted inNews
Assembly tempers talk on non-profits
The Haines Borough Assembly voted Tuesday to fund hazardous waste collection for local businesses on a limited, trial basis and to increase grants to local organizations to $100,000. That’s down from $118,500 requested but up from $82,000 that will be spent in the current year. The decision on local grants won’t be final until the borough budget […]
Posted inNews
Assembly debates annual grants to non-profits
The Haines Borough Assembly May 25 is slated to adopt its $11 million operating and capital budget, and will consider amending it to include as much as $118,000 in grant requests from community organizations. During discussion at a budget workshop May 11, some assembly members said community organizations on the list provided valuable services in town, but […]
Posted inNews
Hill breaks tie, rejects raises for borough leaders
The Haines Borough Assembly May 11 voted 4-3 against giving themselves a $50 per meeting raise, with a $500 per month raise for the mayor. Under the proposed plan, assembly members also would have been compensated $50 for budget committee workshops required each year. Mayor Jan Hill cast the tie-breaking vote. She voted the raise down because she felt […]
Posted inNews
Election rule change fuels assembly spat
The Haines Borough Assembly last week tangled over a draft ordinance revising local election laws, sending the proposed law to its government services committee for review after a heated discussion. The borough is seeking to clarify its election rules in the wake of a successful lawsuit brought by voters last fall that overturned results of an election […]
Posted inNews
Assembly OKs 10K pay hike for harbormaster
The Haines Borough Assembly Friday May 7 gave the borough manager the go-ahead to increase harbormaster pay by up to $10,000 to attract the borough’s top candidate, currently harbormaster in Whittier. The borough budgeted $58,000 in wages for the harbormaster position this year, up from $55,000 it paid former harbormaster Christian Racich. The assembly’s okay gives borough […]
Posted inNews
Contract assessor to be hired; Borough abandons attempts for permanent position
The Haines Borough Assembly voted unanimously Tuesday for contracting with an assessing firm to complete borough assessments and to train a local person for the assessor job. Borough manager Mark Earnest said the most qualified job applicant for the assessor and land manager position, Dave Lockrem of Wisconsin, declined the borough’s offer last week. “For whatever reason, it’s hard […]