JUNEAU — Hoonah, the Hoonah City Hoonah is attempting once more to establish its own borough over 10, million acres of land, as well as waters located in Southeast Alaska.
The largest Alaskan Lingit village, which has an estimated population of approximately 901, has been seeking to establish a borough over the last 30 years, with Hoonah as its hub and seat of the government. The previous attempt in the year 2019 was halted due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Dennis Gray Jr., Hoonah’s city administrator, stated that with the pandemic looming at the rear of his mind that Hoonah’s city will increase its efforts to establish the city borough. The city administrator said it will be “a fantastic achievement” for the Hoonah community in the event that the plan is passed.
Hoonah Indian Association and Huna Totem Corp. -The local village corporation have both written letters of support for the city’s initiatives, citing one of the anticipated benefits of incorporation: more state-funded funds for public education in the town.
Hoonah School District which is home to around 100 students, is operating an estimated budget each year in the range of $3.8 million. The incorporation process as a borough expected to bring the Hoonah School District an extra $350,000 annually from the state due partly due to a higher amount of tax revenue, Gray said.
Nathan Moulton, Hoonah Indian Association’s tribal administrator has written the following in february that extra funds would enable more “scholastic opportunities, as well as additional support to students in the K-12 age group which is urgently required.” There may be more middle and high school classes and vocational education could be revived following the fact that it had been cut back in recent times, Gray said.
In the city’s package includes the proposed Charter for the proposed home-rule borough, an example of a municipal government that is the highest level of local control that is allowed under the Alaska Constitution. Gray stated that the charter was written in order to create “a truly democratic city.”
There are no property taxes to support local governments; instead, Xunaa Borough would have an 6.5 percent sales tax in Hoonah City Hoonah and one-percent seasonal sales tax for all boroughs. A large portion of the sales tax revenue during the season will be repaid by cruise ship passengers who visit the area.
Nearby to Hoonah is Icy Strait Pointon the site of a renovated salmon cannery. The port is owned and managed through Huna Totem Corp., has two docks for cruise ships as well as two gondolas, an immense ziplineover the old-growth forest, as well as an amusement park.
Meilani Schijvens, owner of Juneau-based consultancy company Rain Coast Data Rain Coast Data, has filed documents at the beginning of this year which explained how the new borough will be financially feasible. More than 500,000 cruise ship visitors are scheduled to travel through Icy Strait Point this year and spend $52 millionmore than more than four times the number of tourists as were visiting via cruise ships 10 years ago..
The passengers on cruise ships pay 6.5 percent sales tax. In addition, they’ll be liable for the additional 1percent seasonal sales tax that will likely to generate approximately $400,000 per year for the new Borough.
“That’s sort of an ideal scenario — where you are able to get external funds to help the municipal government.” Gray said. “That’s the most efficient method of running a government We think.”
Hoonah’s small outlying communities such as Elfin Cove, population 24 along with Game Creek, population 23 are expected to be included within the boundaries of the new borough. Other communities in the vicinity, such as Tenakee Springs, Pelican and Gustavus were also asked to sign the petition, but they declined. Gray explained that they may be part of the borough in future.
The most recent Xunaa Borough proposal would be more than triple the size of prior attempts. Xunaa Borough supporters have previously claimed that land parcels belong to Haines Borough and the City and Borough of Sitka but not this time.
The modification was implemented “so we could take an easier time working with The (Local) Boundary Commission,” Gray said.
Xunaa HTML0is Xunaa ispronounced as Hoonah and is an Lingit-stylized spelling, so the name for the new borough will be a reflection of its Alaska Native heritage. The borough’s boundaries will include the beautiful Glacier Bay, which is an area that is believed as the spiritual home of Huna Lingit.
According to the National Park Service saysthat Lingit customs and practices were severely restricted in the current Glacier Bay National Park, which led to tensions between people of the Huna Lingit. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the park service in 2016 to establish government-to-government relations with the Hoonah Indian Association to work cooperatively on managing cultural sites and educating visitors.
When a borough is created, the goal is that residents will be more involved in the decisions made within Glacier Bay, Gray said.
There are likely to be difficulties in getting the application accepted. It is possible that the Local Boundary Commission which is the state-run board charged with reviewing municipal proposals to incorporate Hoonah’s plan, gave the proposal an informal look in February. It also raised several issues.
Alaska guidelinesstate that boroughs must have an annual minimum of 1,000 residents, and in the case of Xunaa Borough would currently just be short of. Some supporters have suggested that the borough is feasible, as shown by the massive development that has taken place at Icy Strait Point and the jobs it has brought to the local area.
Hoonah officials plan to file the petition to incorporate by the close of the month in the hopes of establishing the new borough’s administration in 2025. Residents who reside within the boundaries of the area will need to be in favor of the creation for the current Xunaa Borough and its new charter.
The final Alaska Borough that was incorporated in 2013 was Petersburg Borough in 2013.
The story first appeared within the Anchorage Daily News and is reproduced here with permission.
