Skagway’s local government has set aside nearly a half-million dollars to pay weekly cash assistance to unemployed residents this winter. The funds will be drawn from a $2 million donation made by Norwegian Cruise Lines to the community earlier this year. But the assembly still has some work to do to finalize how and when the payments will be distributed.
Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings gave the municipality of Skagway $2 million earlier this year with one request: that Skagway be there when the cruise industry rebounds. The assembly has allocated some of the funds for the local food bank, a utility assistance program, local small business grants, and unemployment benefits for local residents.
But they haven’t reached consensus on how to administer those unemployment benefits. At the assembly meeting on Thursday night Assemblyperson Reba Hylton proposed delaying the discussion and any vote until the assembly meets next month. In the meantime, how and when the municipality will pay out the benefits will be fine-tuned by its finance committee.
Hylton told KHNS on Friday she’s heard concerns about how the current plan would exclude residents who own their own businesses.
“Because they’re not able to collect unemployment. This money would be beneficial for them to actually pay their bills, their personal bills, and not just the losses that they acquired because of COVID. And then the larger employers in town seem to be very concerned that there are plenty of jobs out there, and this is encouraging people not to work,” said Hylton.
Whether or not unemployment benefits keep people from seeking work has been part of a larger national debate, and it’s a concern residents have raised with Hylton. Alaska was one of several states that turned away federal money to boost unemployment payments by $600 a week.
“I don’t buy into that rhetoric at all on the national level, and definitely not on the local level either. But I still want to hear the concerns because these are residents, and I think there’s a conversation to be had there. And that’s what we’re going to do is just have that conversation,” said Hylton.
Assemblyperson Orion Hanson says he’s also heard the argument from local business owners that generous benefits encourage people to stay home.
“When I’m hearing businesses say that they can’t hire people, because they would make more getting unemployment sitting at home; that’s counteractive to what we’re trying to achieve of having a thriving wintertime, or not even thriving, surviving wintertime community,” said Hanson.
But those aren’t the only wrinkles that need to be ironed out, Hylton says she’s also concerned about people who have jobs that get interrupted by the pandemic.
“I think of someone as a bartender or working at the grocery store that perhaps is probably living paycheck to paycheck. And how can we help those people that miss a week of work because of a specific COVID-related case, whether they catch COVID or a coworker catches COVID, and they have to shut down and they’re not working, but it’s not long enough to collect unemployment?” Asked Hylton.
Both Hanson and Hylton say they agree that Skagway’s unemployment program needs more work.
“We can hopefully start distributing this money in December,” said Hylton.
There will be more chances for public engagement before then. Skagway’s finance committee meets again on November 3. The Skagway assembly is slated to meet the following day.
