ITEM TITLE:
#21-14 - Waiving 2021 Annual Fishing Vessel Moorage Fees for Active Commercial Fishing Vessels
SUBMITTED BY: Jeremy Talbott, Ports & Harbors Director
FISCAL NOTES:
Expenditure Required: N/A
Unencumbered Balance: N/A
Funding Source: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve Resolution 21-14
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
Attached is a resolution for consideration by the Valdez City Council. This resolution entails a credit/waiver of annual moorage fees for our local commercial fishing vessel owners.
This economic mitigation tactic originated during the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic event in the spring of 2020 from the Economic Recovery Taskforce. The Economic Recovery Taskforce initially discussed, and made a recommendation to the Valdez City Council to waive all 2020 Port and Harbor moorage fees and leases.
This mitigation tactic was openly discussed at several Economic Recovery Taskforce meetings, and was presented to the Valdez City Council during a work session on June 11th 2020. The original idea of a full Port & Harbor fee waiver/credit did not gain council support during the discussion at this work session. However, council members present were potentially supportive of a more narrow scope to include local commercial businesses that were claiming a hardship due to the pandemic crisis.
The Economic Recovery Taskforce continued to narrow the scope during their taskforce level meetings and brought a new resolution specifically targeting “affected Port & Harbor commercial businesses” to the Valdez City Council on August 19th 2020.
Resolution #20-45, Waiving Fees for 2020 Commercial Moorage and Airport Lease Payments for commercial businesses claiming economic hardship related to the COVID 19 Pandemic passed with a 5-1 vote.
During the discussion of Resolution #20-45 a “motion to amend” the resolution, with an end date of August 31st 2020 for applications was proposed/moved by council member Devens and seconded by council member Ruff. This motion failed to carry a majority.
The required qualifications for Resolution #20-45 were; a local business license prior to the event, and a letter of hardship into the Ports & Harbors Department.
The Economic Recovery Taskforce realized this would exclude most of our local Commercial Fishing Fleet who do not normally file for a State of Alaska or local business license. The Commercial fishing fleet would also have a hard time claiming a hardship due to the fact they were at the start of their fishing season when this resolution began to take shape late in the spring of 2020.
The Economic Recovery Taskforce met with representatives from the Prince William Sound Commercial Fishing Industry in the fall of 2020. During this meeting, the taskforce gained additional insight and understanding as to how the commercial fishing industry was impacted over the 2020 Commercial fishing season. Several commercial fishing captains and vessel owners stated how a credit of moorage would assist them in recovery from the COVID-19 event.
Recently several additional fishing vessel owners both local, and regional have claimed hardship via email, letters and phone calls.
Resolution 21-14 Waiving 2021 Annual Commercial Fishing Vessel Moorage Fees directly targets local commercial fishing vessel owners who have claimed a hardship due to the ongoing COVID-19 emergency event. The requirements outlined in the resolution would require the following three items to receive a refund or waiver of annual moorage fees;
• State Issued ID, with Valdez specifically being listed as place of residence.
• A letter of hardship to the Harbormaster.
• An active Commercial Fishing License for the 2020 or 2021 fishing seasons.
Based on billing addresses and customer knowledge Harbor staff expects the maximum total moorage fees waived or credited to be less than $30,000 dollars, as the resolution currently is drafted. This estimate is based on the billing information we have for our commercial fishing vessels in the Harbor as of January 2021. (Attached is the 2021 Commercial Fishing Vessel Customer List, and highlighted are the local vessel owners staff anticipates may qualify.)
On 2/1/2021, the Ports & Harbors Commission reviewed and voted in support of this resolution with no amendments to the resolution attached.
On 2/17/2021, the Economic Development Commission met and voted in support of this resolution with no amendment recommendations to the resolution attached.
With broad input, support, and approval from the Emergency Management Team, the Ports & Harbors Commission, and the Economic Development Commission this resolution attached is ready for council consideration.