For the next month, Juneau residents can weigh in on how they think the city should spend the money it gets from cruise passengers.
The City and Borough of Juneau gets $5 for every passenger who comes through the city during the summer, which is expected to yield an estimated $6 million this summer. City Manager Rorie Watt has issued his recommendations for how to spend the money, including additional ambulance service, a Shipping Congestion Mitigation Pilot Project, dock infrastructure and more.
Watt also recommends using $1.5 million for legal fees from the city’s three-year legal struggle with Cruise Lines International Association of Alaska. That would be the biggest share of the passenger fees.
To see Watt’s full list of recommendations, people can go to https://beta.juneau.org, scroll down to the “CBJ News” area and click on the news item about commenting on draft recommendations for Marine Passenger Fee proceeds.
Feedback is due by May 2. Residents can send comments to susan.phillips@juneau.org or the City Manager’s Office, attn: Susan Phillips, 155 S. Seward Street, Juneau, Alaska 99801. All project proposals and comments will be forwarded to the Assembly Finance Committee for review, and then to the Assembly for consideration during the upcoming budget cycle.
