There will be a couple of changes to Skagway’s Emergency Assistance and Economic Stimulus payments. August’s checks won’t be as fat.
Skagway residents received the first month of thousand dollar relief and stimulus checks in the mail in June. But in August, they’ll only get $500 checks. Borough Manager Brad Ryan introduced the change at last week’s assembly meeting.
“My intent is to cut the August payment by half for everybody across the board with the hope that people are… still living all right off of their unemployment and the current checks that they’ve received,” he said.
Ryan said the borough will reduce the payment now so that more money is available in the winter months, when it is more likely to be necessary.
Ryan said the reduction will only last for a month. It is in response to a higher than anticipated number of applicants and the addition of an extra month to the program. Nearly 900 residents qualified for the first round of aid.
“I’m a little concerned that we’re going to run short on funds if we fund the grant program as well as the community assistance checks,” said Ryan.
And there will be one more change—the checks won’t arrive in the mail any longer. Residents will have to pick them up from city hall in person. That’s to ensure the aid money is only going to Skagway residents who are actually in Skagway.