Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

I feel compelled to share information so we can all realize what our town will be faced with this year in economic loss. This information should have been put out long ago so our citizens and businesses could better prepare for what we are now faced with. I have projected how much our community's economy will be down this season. In plain words "What's not coming down Main St. Wrangell" this season. What's not coming to our town this year is about $40,000,000 in revenue, or $109,000 per day, 365 days this year.

Let me explain.

In late April sales tax revenue was down about 50% according to the city. On an annual basis this meant the city would be $1.4 million short of average sale tax revenue. What that meant to "Main St" equated to a shortfall of $18.5 million in sales, add the over cap revenue at 22% it means that 50% down on sales tax revenue means about $22,500,000 in sales that will not occur in town this year.

Now on to industry. Our fisheries resource's value is down as much as 50%. Crab prices are at 50% of last year, salmon prices are down almost as much. So our hard working fleet is working for half price this season. Production poundage from local processors is down 40% at this date, a double whammy. With production down and prices down 50% our fishermens' expenses (which are not down) effectively double relative to profitability, our crew persons face the same loss of revenue. Our fleet has already lost millions so far this season. A best estimate that I can verify with current data, our fleet is down about $10,000,000.00 this season compared to normal. This with the season only about 60% done.

Keep in mind as I list other industries that are losing revenue, the revenue I am accounting for is what they, the fishermen and their crews and our working citizens are losing.

Cruise ships did not visit here this year. The Alaska ferry was not present for half the year. Alaska Air visitation has been seriously impacted. Our 4th of July economic shot for our businesses did not happen.

Our charter boats were down, some up to 75% down. B&Bs and lodging had poor seasons. Transportation companies are way down this year.

It is not my intention to put this out as gloom and doom but rather to put out real numbers. Sharing this information is intended to help all of us affected plan forward and try to mitigate these losses. It's not pleasant information but it's good to know. I feel our management should have at least tried to put some numbers on this when they told us in April what 'they' were looking at losing. They informed us what city run facilities would be short. They projected in the tens of thousands, our shorts, as citizens and business people are in the tens of millions.

Mike Lockabey