Skagway Assembly weighs handing clinic's federal grant to its nonprofit by 2028

The Skagway Borough Assembly will consider a resolution Thursday, Nov. 5, to hand Dahl Memorial Clinic's federal health center grant to the clinic's nonprofit, Dahl Memorial Clinic, Inc., by Jan. 1, 2028.

The Assembly holds a public hearing at 7 pm and may adopt the resolution that night. The 2028 date is tentative and could change, the resolution says.

Right now the borough and the clinic board hold the grant together, as co-applicants to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The resolution calls that arrangement not typical and says it has led to conditions on the grant in the past, though it doesn't say what they were. It also says rising costs are making it harder for the borough to provide health care. The goal is a single grant held by a nonprofit, and the borough has been working toward it since 2023.

The resolution's goals include the borough keeping the clinic building and land and paying for the facility. It also aims for clinic employees to stay on the borough payroll, but only "if legally possible" under Alaska law and federal grant rules.

The resolution asks Mayor Orion Hanson to form a committee to guide the transition. The clinic board discussed the change Aug. 27 and again Oct. 29.

The same night, the Assembly will introduce the borough's draft fiscal 2027 budget. It carries about $1.35 million in federal health center grant money for clinic operations, plus about $2.3 million from the sales tax fund, up 16.5%, and $2 million from cruise passenger revenue.