Cordova mayor warns slow gillnet season will squeeze city budget

Mayor Kristin Smith warned the Cordova City Council on Wednesday that a slow start to the gillnet season will hit the city's raw fish tax collections hard, arriving at the same moment the governor vetoed the Community Assistance Program that municipalities across Alaska budget for each year.

"We've had a super slow start to the gillnet season," Smith said. "That's going to make a big difference in our raw fish tax. Still some big unknowns that we're going to have to face."

The two pressures compound each other. When landings are down, the raw fish tax that funds city services falls with them. The Community Assistance Program was supposed to provide a separate revenue floor, though the program is conditional and subject to legislative appropriation rather than an entitlement. The city manager put a number to the loss: Cordova had budgeted $105,659 from the program for the current year, and that money will not appear in the 2027 budget.

Smith said she plans to contact the state delegation and urge an override vote on the veto. She also pushed back on suggestions that the city close the pool, the museum, or the Bidarki Recreation Center to cut costs. "I think those are huge quality of life assets that people count on for living here," she said. "Once you close something, it becomes really hard to reopen it."

She raised the idea of a community town hall this fall to work through revenues and expenses together, but was clear that no plans, dates, or commitments had been made. "These are not making plans. We're not setting dates. We're not committing to it," she said.

The city manager noted that $1.9 million in forest receipts sits unobligated but urged the council not to spend it before the revenue picture for 2027 becomes clearer. "We need to understand where we are and we shouldn't be jumping to spend that money before we know what our revenue looks like," she said. An audit expected by Sept. 1 will show where the city ended last fiscal year. The city manager also said she intends to bring an ordinance to raise the MAP tax on vehicle rentals and public accommodations to 7%, a revenue option the council revisits each budget cycle, so a decision can be made before the fall budget crunch.