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 […]
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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 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 […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Represent people, not government
It is difficult to find the words that can fully express the disappointment I experienced when a member of the Haines Borough Assembly made the following statement, on the record, and I quote: “We represent the government, that’s our job.” This statement by our elected representative on the Haines Borough Assembly, directed toward another assembly member, is a […]
Posted inNews
Assembly advances publicly funded solid waste program: Mayor breaks tie vote
The Haines Borough Assembly narrowly advanced a ballot measure during its first public hearing Tuesday that would give voters the option to approve a 1 percent areawide sales tax increase to pay for a municipally managed solid waste program. The ordinance would provide for “regulation, operation and management of a municipal solid waste program that pays for […]
Posted inNews, Public Safety
Voters one step closer to deciding on police service outside townsite
The Haines Borough Assembly advanced an amended ballot question that would allow Lutak, Mud Bay and Haines Highway residents to vote to create their own separate “on-call police service areas” that would be funded by a property tax increase. The original ordinance called for one on-call police service area that would encompass the bulk of borough land outside […]
Posted inNews
Ballot measure would change charter to allow areawide policing
The Haines Borough Assembly narrowly approved introducing two ordinances for public hearings that, if advanced, would allow voters to decide whether or not they want to expand police services beyond the townsite. But which one voters will decide is drumming up debate reminiscent of consolidation. One ordinance would allow voters who live outside the townsite service area […]
Posted inAlaska Marine Highway System, News
Cancelled ferry hurts businesses
Haines businesses took only a small hit from the cancellation of two sailings by the state ferry Columbia, which derailed plans for hundreds of passengers. However, business owners and the borough assembly say inconsistent ferry service remains a problem. Alaska Marine Highway spokesperson Aurah Landau said the Columbia was not available for its June 29 […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Assembly will review exempting residential rentals from sales tax
The Haines Borough Assembly will review a finance committee recommendation that the borough exempt residential renters from paying sales tax if they live in Haines for at least nine months a year. The topic is on the agenda for the assembly’s July 10 meeting. Assembly member Sean Maidy introduced the idea last month to exempt residential rentals […]
Posted inNews
$100,000 ‘lipstick job’: officials discuss fate of public safety building
The Haines Borough Assembly discussed what should happen with the borough’s public safety building Monday, a facility that one assembly member said is “in shambles” and barely functional for its daily operations. The public safety building on Haines Highway houses the borough’s police department and dispatch, the fire department and ambulance crew, the assembly chambers where public […]