Assembly debates whether to invite nonprofits for service contracts; staff clarifies Chilkat Center ownership

Assembly members debated whether to invite nonprofits to a May 14 meeting to discuss 'service-driven' contracts and whether the borough should budget new funds for those contracts. Some members urged focusing discussion on organizations already included in the budget (museum, Chilkat Center, Mosquito Lake facility, senior center), while others cautioned against creating expectations for unbudgeted funding and suggested the assembly set priorities and a dollar amount before soliciting proposals.

Speaker S6 outlined a starting approach for school funding discussions and argued the assembly should begin with what it provided last year and subtract interim state funding changes. Other members noted that in the previous budget cycle a motion to allocate $100–125K to nonprofits failed 4–2, while the borough separately granted several property-tax exemptions to charitable entities that together reduced tax revenue.

Staff asked whether Mosquito Lake or Becky's Place could be handled as service-driven contracts or MOAs and said Margaret is comparing proposed leases/MOAs. On ownership, staff clarified the Chilkat Center is owned by Haines Borough but contains a reversionary interest: if it ceases to be used for the current community purpose it would revert to the original owner; staff named Alaska Indian Arts as the reversionary-interest holder.

In public comment, Carol Tannman urged the assembly to consider that modest local grants often leverage much larger outside funding, saying a $2,000 local grant once helped attract more than $800,000 in outside funding over a decade.

The assembly agreed to discuss service-driven contracts at a future meeting but made no allocation during the workshop.