In Cordova, a slow salmon season squeezes everything — even the Fourth of July

In a town built on fish, the fish tax is the budget.

Mayor Kristin Smith told the Cordova City Council: "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."

That tax rises and falls with the catch, and the 2026 season gave the city reason to worry early. State managers had pushed the opener a week later for king conservation, the season started into a cold, late spring, and the forecast called for a weak king run — well below its ten-year average — and only an ordinary sockeye return.

Fewer fish over the docks means less tax in the city's account.

And it landed alongside a second blow. Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the Community Assistance Program, the state money that towns across Alaska build into their budgets each year as a revenue floor. For Cordova, that erased $105,659 the city had counted on — money the city manager said simply won't appear in the 2027 budget.

Pressed on whether Cordova should close the pool, the museum, or the Bidarki Recreation Center to cut costs, Smith pushed back hard. "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."

At the same meeting, Cordova Chamber of Commerce director Kathy Renzel told the council the chamber had pulled off this year's Fourth of July on reduced funding and staff — because members believed the tradition was worth saving and community partners stepped up.

She didn't soften it. "We can't realistically commit to organizing last year's Fourth of July celebration if we can't figure out a way to keep the chamber funded," Renzel said. "That is a criticism, and it's not an easy thing to say. It's just simply the reality of our current capacity."

The same shortfall has thinned the chamber's tourism marketing — the outreach to expedition cruise lines and conference travelers that brings outside dollars in.

The city has some room to move, but no easy answers. About $1.9 million in forest receipts sits unobligated, and the city manager urged the council not to touch it yet. "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. She also wants to move up a proposal to raise the tax on vehicle rentals and lodging to 7 percent — visitors to Cordova already pay a combined 14 percent — so the council can decide before the fall budget crunch.

Smith floated a community town hall this fall to work through revenues and expenses together, while carefully promising nothing. "These are not making plans. We're not setting dates. We're not committing to it," she said.

For now, the holiday is still on: this year's Fourth of July runs noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at the grassy field, with a tent up in case of rain — a town doing what it's always done, while the people who run it try to work out how to keep doing it.