The Skagway Borough Assembly met Dec. 5 to discuss agenda items including bear-proof dumpsters, the taxation of tour sales and the annual municipal budget.
“It’s going to alleviate some of the burden on sales tax for some of our local tour operators and put it onto the people who are actually selling it,” said Assembly member Alex Weddell, explaining Ordinance 24-12.
The proposed ordinance seeks to collect sales tax from tours sold on cruise ships and out-of-town online vendors, while streamlining how taxes are collected from transient or itinerant businesses.
The ordinance was fashioned after a similar one in Juneau that was ratified in 2022.
During public comment, the proposed ordinance received vocal support from members of the public. Resident Lynn Davidson read a letter drafted by tour operator Sherry Corrington.
“Outside vendors, such as Viator, Tours by Locals, etc, as well as the cruise lines, have been stealing from our community and laughing their way to the bank,” Davidson said. “This ordinance will put an end to all of that.”
The ordinance passed its first reading. But Vice Mayor Deb Potter said there were questions she would like addressed before the next meeting, such as how the ordinance would affect pre-sales and when it would go into effect.
The next item on the agenda focused on big, burly bruins and their propensity for mischief.
“Initially, we had a lot of outcry from the community about bears and having to dispatch bears, and the number one cause of that is human garbage,” said Assembly member Orion Hanson.
Last fall, Skagway police dispatched a brown bear sow and her cub after they got into residential and commercial garbage and charged residents on multiple occasions.
The unfortunate events led to considerable public outcry with some community members blaming commercial operators for improper waste handling.
Ordinance 44-01 clarifies trash collection procedures in an effort to reduce attractants that may entice bears to believe that human-generated garbage is food. Skagway residents will be responsible for maintaining proper refuse containers, securing their own garbage and making garbage available for pickup at the proper time.
After some discussion and multiple amendments, the ordinance passed unanimously.
Finally, the assembly approved the final reading of the 2025 municipal budget. Over the past few months, the governing body met for three “assembly of the whole” meetings where budget details were hammered out, followed by two regular meetings where various budgetary items were added or deleted.
Despite this work, the budget remained unbalanced. In an attempt to balance the budget, Assembly member Dan Henry suggested paying for Garden City property improvements from the Municipal Land Fund rather than the General Fund.
“The 850 I think is the number or thereabouts for the utility,” Henry said. “That money has got to come out of the land fund, not out of the general fund. That comes out of the land fund that makes land available, and, you know, to be liquidated to the community.”
Henry explained that the land fund was created not only to buy land but also to make necessary improvements to facilitate the sale of land to community members.
“So we’re balanced,” Henry said. “At the moment, we have another discussion that will ensue, what we’re going to do about the future, but at current, if we do the things all from the appropriate funds, we’re okay.”
The assembly unanimously agreed and amended the budget to remove the $850,000 expense from the general fund and pay for the expense via the land fund.
The amendment resulted in a balanced budget, which was passed unanimously by the governing body.
