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Committee explores vocational training, borough land sales to support housing and workforce skills
Summary
The finance committee discussed asking the school superintendent what vocational programs need, and considered using borough land sales and wrapped utility financing to promote affordable housing and hands-on training; no formal vote was taken.
The Haines Borough Finance Committee discussed ways the borough could support vocational training in local schools and use borough land sales as part of an affordable-housing and workforce-training strategy.
Members agreed the first step is to ask the school and vocational educator what is realistic and what resources would be required. A committee member urged a formal request for program needs and realistic capacity: "what kinds of things they would like to see," the member said, urging the borough to align grant-seeking and borough support to those needs.
Discussion then turned to borough land sales as a practical mechanism to create training and homeownership opportunities. One member proposed selling small borough lots and wrapping utility-installation financing into a sale so new owners (or trainees) could build and develop parcels, rather than the borough undertaking full development. The committee reviewed a prior motion directing staff to subdivide small tracts and determine minimum bid prices and financing options.
The chair flagged incoming state land transfers and survey costs as a logistical constraint: he said one parcel of roughly 1,600 acres could require about $300,000 in survey work before it can be marketed. Members also referenced the school’s reported budget of about $2,100,000 from the previous year as context for what the superintendent might be asked to account for when considering expanded vocational programming.
The committee did not adopt a specific funding measure; instead members agreed to request more detailed school budget information, keep the small-tracks subdivision and financing conversations moving with planning staff, and invite staff and the planner to early working meetings. Committee members said the land-sales and training strategies are likely to be a rolling topic through the rest of the year.
