Photo courtesy of Jerry Lapp.
Jerry Lapp moved to Haines with his wife in 1977 to help his family run the 33 Mile Roadhouse. They ran it for 34 years before selling it in 2011 and moving into town. Lapp has also worked in construction and other jobs around Haines.
Outside of work he has volunteered with the Klehini Valley Fire Department and the Chilkat Snow Burners.
“Still snow machine some, but I used to be an avid snow machiner,” Lapp said. “[I] get out fishing and stuff. Don’t do that quite as much anymore because I’m getting a little older. I like to do road trips when we can.”
Lapp returned to local government in January when he was appointed to the Haines Borough Assembly following the resignation of Sean Maidy. Before that he was elected as mayor of the borough for two terms starting in 1996 and served on the assembly for 13 years.
He said he was not sure if he would run for re-election when the term of his appointment ended, but the pandemic changed his mind.
“I realized that we’re going into a pretty tough time with this coronavirus and the lost revenue. I’ve been through similar situations with the borough before with my experience and I thought I can probably help out a lot.”
Lapp is concerned about the drop in sales for businesses that rely on summer tourism. A lack of sales also means a lack of sales tax revenue for the borough.
As far as the borough’s budget is concerned, Lapp said he would like to find new sources of revenue but strongly opposes increasing taxes.
“The sales tax revenues just through June are down $300,000,” Lapp said. “We’re going to have to make that up somehow or we’re going to have to find some place to cut. I think balancing the budget and still providing a good level of service to the community is probably going to be the biggest challenge and the way you do that is you look for revenue sources.”
Lapp said that the borough has experienced dramatic drops in revenue in the past, and the community experienced tough times after the decline of the local timber industry. He said the trick to getting through an economic downturn is to spend money locally.
“If you try to keep the money in Haines, and keep it circulating within Haines, spending at home and supporting the businesses of Haines, then you keep the money here and that does help stabilize the economy during a tough time,” Lapp said.
Lapp is one of six candidates running in the election for the four open seats on the Haines Borough Assembly. He will face Caitie Kirby, Helen Alten, Carol Tuynman, Brenda Josephson, and Cheryl Stickler in the election this October. You can learn more about the other candidates here.
