The Haines Borough manager’s 2020 proposed budget released this week amounts to nearly $18.7 million in total spending using $426,508 of borough reserve funds and an increase in property tax. Last fiscal year, the borough’s budget spent about $13.4 million. This year’s budget would be similar if not for a spending increase that reflects $6.1 million worth […]
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Posted inNews
Who serves who?
Mayor’s Tier 3 stand at odds with assembly Mayor Jan Hill’s recent testimony on the Tier 3 nomination process raised concerns from some assembly members and the public this week about how she represents the borough. By charter, the Haines Borough operates with a manager form of government, which means the manager may direct municipal officers and […]
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Borough denied grant for ADA upgrades, plans to appeal
The state fund grant proposal that would have allocated more than $500,000 for a public safety building upgrade was rejected this month for the second year in a row, two points shy of approval. The Haines Borough plans to appeal the denial based on inconsistent review of a nearly identical past budget proposal. “I feel an obligation […]
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Josephson to propose borough hiring freeze
In the wake of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget that would slash about $1.7 million in state funding to the borough, assembly member Brenda Josephson has suggested placing a hiring freeze on “non-essential positions” until the Haines Borough Assembly finalizes its 2020 budget. She defined non-essential positions as jobs outside of the school district, public works, or […]
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Drug task force finds alcohol major contributor to crime
While the Haines Borough’s drug enforcement task force has worked since June 2017 to find solutions to drug-related issues, recent data analyzing 12 months of emergency visits to the Haines Health Center and eight years of substance abuse data from the Lynn Canal Behavioral Health Clinic point to alcohol as a far greater issue. The behavioral health […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Officials to discuss tax increases in face of state budget cuts
Town Hall scheduled for March 13 Along with tax increases and spending cuts, the Haines Borough Assembly will consider raising the borough’s tax cap during budget discussions because Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget would reduce state revenue to the borough by about $1.7 million. Dunleavy’s cuts to school debt reimbursement, raw fish tax and the education budget […]
Posted inNews, Housing
GAS committee pulls stakes from tents in draft housing ordinance
The Government Affairs and Services Committee advanced a recommendation to the assembly on a substitute ordinance for employee housing that would prohibit tents and impose sanitation requirements. “We’re trying to hold employers to a standard that they need to pay people well enough so that they don’t have to live in a tent,” committee chair […]
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Assembly favors ‘soft opening’ for tour code
The Haines Borough Assembly unanimously approved a temporary change to tourism code for 2019 that will reverse by March 1, 2020 if the borough does not further develop the code. “This resolution lets us look at unintended consequences and allows us to have a soft opening,” borough clerk Alekka Fullerton said in a commerce committee meeting last […]
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Assembly directs resource extraction to committee
Borough planner Holly Smith and residents on both sides of the aisle asked the Haines Borough Assembly to hold off adopting an ordinance that would allow small-scale resource extraction in the Mud Bay zoning district until concerns are worked through. On Tuesday, the assembly referred a resource extraction draft ordinance, approved by the planning commission, to the […]
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Assembly considers burial fee increase
The Haines Borough Assembly discussed the burying of people and pets. Assembly member Heather Lende proposed amending the borough’s animal code to allow people to bury non-euthanized and non-diseased animals on their private property. “I’m going to vote for this,” assembly member Tom Morphet said. “I think it does raise the question of why we now prohibit […]