CITY BUSINESS
Dear Editor: On Dec. 18 Mayor Matt Hunter (referring to Tribal Protests regarding the new electric policy) is quoted as saying, ‘‘The city has to operate that as a business, we can’t give it (electricity) away for free.’’ So with regard to our city, I got to thinking.
A business, also known as an enterprise, agency, or firm, is an entity involved in the provision of goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are prevalent in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and provide goods and services to customers in exchange for other goods, services, or money. Chief among the goals of a business is to generate a surplus of revenue (profit) to distribute to beneficiaries such as employes or stock holders, or to reduce prices, or to grow the business, or to establish funds for future development or emergencies.
Our city government is anything but a business because in even this most abbreviated description of a business our city government gets an ‘‘F.’’
So as I said I got to thinking. Why not hire a proven successful business person to replace Mark Gorman, municipal administrator (who is leaving this post). Let’s hire a business person who is willing to look at what is really wrong with the operation and management of our city government and who will employ ‘‘nuts and bolts’’ methods of making the city successful and profitable. It would include revamping pay sales, retirement and vacation benefits, in short, the whole ponderous financial debt ridden structure. That also means former military, educational, non-profit, federal, state, or local government office holders need not apply for the position. It also means that such a person would be willing, at times, to be politically incorrect and unpopular which conditions invariably accompany change.
I think Matt Hunter has inadvertently put his finger on it! Let’s have our city run like a business (which it is) by someone who knows how to be successful in business. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea?!
For those of you who will immediately disparage my idea as impossible or too complicated, (I will stipulate the usual endless objections) remember that’s what ‘‘they’’ said about the Hoover Dam, a flying machine, landing on the moon, and other worthwhile an successful projects.
For those of you who demand immediate gratification in solving complicated problems, get over it, life doesn’t work that way.
Lydia McGraw, Sitka
Halibut Quota Share
Dear Editor: On Jan. 24, the Sitka Assembly will consider a proposal to pursue municipal ownership of halibut quota share (QS). While ALFA is firmly committed to promoting Sitka’s future in fisheries, we do not support the City of Sitka competing with local fishermen for halibut quota.
With three notable exceptions (explained below), the halibut QS program requires second generation QS holders to be “real” people — not corporations, non-profits or municipalities. The program contains this provision to prevent non-individual entities from dominating the QS market to the detriment of Alaska’s owner-operator community-based fishermen. ALFA supports and upholds this provision for two primary reasons: 1) entities generally have better access to capital and their entry into the QS market further inflates already high halibut QS price, making QS ownership less affordable to individuals; and 2) independent community-based fishermen are community and industry leaders; they are also strong advocates for ocean health and sustainable fisheries.
Independent fishermen provide a strong voice for sustainable community-based fisheries, and ALFA is working to secure access for the next generation of young fishermen. ALFA helped found the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust, which provides bridge financing to qualified young fishermen, allowing local fishermen and others committed to sustainable community-based fisheries to share the risk and entry level costs of QS. We are in the process of capitalizing the ASFT to take to scale our investment model. In sum, we share the Assembly’s goal of investing in sustained fishery access for Sitka fishermen; what we do not share and cannot support is an initiative that advocates for changes to existing halibut QS regulations that allow more “entities” to purchase and hold halibut quota.
The exceptions to individual ownership of halibut quota are: 1) Community Development Quotas (CDQs), which were issued to western Alaska communities that had not yet developed a halibut fleet when the QS program was implemented; 2) Community Quota Entities, non-profit entities authorized to purchase quota for Gulf of Alaska communities of less than 1500 people to staunch the outflow of fishery access from these villages; and 3) Recreational Quota Entities (RQEs), a new program that will allow guided sport operators to purchase commercial quota for use by their clients.
CDQ groups have leveraged initial allocations of halibut, groundfish and crab to purchase additional quota; CQEs have made little progress toward quota share ownership because the high cost of quota has proven to be a significant obstacle; and the RQE intends to use a tax on charter clients to fund QS purchase in the future.
Since the halibut/sablefish QS program was implemented, the price of halibut quota has risen from $5 per pound to over $60 per pound. Over 65% of the people who now hold quota have purchased some or all of the quota they currently hold. Commercial fishermen have borrowed and invested heavily to participate in the halibut fisheries. Sitka fishermen are no exception. In fact, more QS is held by Sitka residents now than when the QS program was implemented in 1995. The same is true of Petersburg and a few other larger Alaska communities. The smaller communities, those that are struggling to form CQEs, have experienced a significant net loss of halibut quota.
ALFA worked hard to secure a QS program that protects independent, community-based fishermen. We worked even harder to protect the Southeast resource from the habitat destruction wrought by trawlers, and we are still working to protect the halibut resource from bycatch.
We have watched CDQs, CQEs and now RQEs authorized in contradiction to the owner-operator commitment the Council made to halibut fishermen, and each authorization has driven halibut quota prices relentlessly higher.
At this point, scant space remains for independent community-based fishermen, and we are doing all we can to hold that space by taking to scale our fisheries Trust. We would welcome the City’s support of the Trust; we cannot support the City of Sitka lobbying for additional entry into the QS market of new “entities,” municipal or otherwise, and we will actively oppose any additional reallocation of access from Sitka’s commercial fisheries to the charter or guided sport sector.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Linda Behnken, Sitka
