Dillingham’s harbor is aging. Early last month Dillingham’s city council discussed the need for more than $25 million dollars of repairs – from new floats to storm protection measures. Securing funding for the harbor was one of the top priorities for Alaska state House Representative Bryce Egdmon this legislative session. He convinced the legislature to include $5 million for it in the state’s budget.
“I think the argument behind the need for it, the entire $5 million, is very compelling, and very timely,” Edgmon said. “And certainly, you know, the story of the harbor being a regional asset for what really is the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, one of the key sort of arms of it, and the Nushagak Bay, I think, deserves to be told.”
Edgmon says the state funding could be used to meet match requirements for larger grants.
“And, again, sort of underscoring the critical nature of getting this money from the state, because it will work to get other money involved into, you know, sort of refurbishing or retrofitting or bringing the hardware back into, you know, more of more of a sort of functional state,” he said.
For instance, a Maritime Administration agency grant the city has applied for would provide $11 million to the inner harbor. That could help repair floats and provide electricity, water and sewage services to the harbor’s leased lots. It could also help improve part of the seawall and pay for environment assessments of abandoned property. The grant requires 20% of its funding to be matched.
Edgmon sees this funding as means for more.
“That will sort of help us make the argument in the future that more is needed. And here’s what we want to do. And here’s the economic benefits from it,” he said.
According to Edgmon, this kind of state funding is competitive, due to its reduced capital budget in recent years. At the June 15th city council meeting, Mayor Alice Ruby thanked Edgmon for his work and encouraged community members to express their support of it to the governor.
“Getting the $5 million is such a significant accomplishment,” she said. “The city has drafted letters and sent them to the governor. There’s a place on the governor’s website where even an individual can email the gov and say, ‘we urge you to support that funding for the city boat harbor.'"
Dunleavy vetoed more than $200 million dollars from the state budget on June 19, including cutting $10 million from various state ferry and harbor projects, but the Dillingham harbor funding remains intact. The city also received $5 million dollars in federal funding to address erosion at Snag Point earlier this year.
Get in touch with the author at christina@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
