Committee to draft commercial-user fee recommendations for borough assembly

Members of the Haines Borough RMSA committee spent substantial time discussing a commercial-user fee proposal and agreed to draft a recommendation for the borough assembly.

Nicholas and other members argued against enumerating every possible business type and instead recommended an "umbrella" commercial-user fee that would capture all commercial usage of RMSA roads, with higher charges tied to vehicle weight or axle count rather than business label. "It's not the business type that's the issue, it's the amount of traffic," Nicholas said, urging the committee to replace language like "mineral extraction" with "transport" to reflect heavy-vehicle impacts.

Members raised practical enforcement questions: how the borough would track headcounts or vehicle loads and whether an honor system would suffice for smaller operators. The committee noted that the borough assembly has taken authority to set commercial-user fees and that the commerce committee is also working on fees; the RMSA’s role is to recommend language and examples to the assembly.

To avoid a serial-meeting violation under the Open Meetings Act, the committee agreed to form a two-person drafting subgroup. The subgroup will prepare a draft and distribute it to members individually, then present the draft at a future public meeting; staff advised that this subcommittee approach keeps the process compliant. Members provisionally agreed that suggested examples (film crews, transport operators, commercial tourism) and catch-all commercial language be included as illustrations rather than binding categories.

The committee set a follow-up meeting for April 15 at 4:00 p.m. to review the draft and other items related to subzone allocation and maintenance.