Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Nearly half of the Haines Borough’s 51 full-time and part-time employees will be out of the office for a week at some point this month, the result of a budget cut for the fiscal year that began July 1.

To help offset loss of state funding and sales tax revenue due to COVID-19, the Haines Borough Assembly approved one week of unpaid mandatory furlough for all employees, excluding police and emergency response. The furlough will save the borough roughly $62,000.

Twenty-one of the borough’s employees elected to take the furlough in July because this is the final month of the federal boost to unemployment insurance under the CARES Act, clerk and interim manager Alekka Fullerton said.

Until July 31, those claiming unemployment are eligible for $600 per week from the federal government on top of state benefits, which range from $56 to $370 weekly, depending on past earnings. Normally, employees taking a week of furlough wouldn’t be eligible to claim unemployment, but under new guidelines the state approved in response to the pandemic, they are.

There are three weeks in July when employees can take the furlough. The borough is using supervisor approval to coordinate furlough and ensure the borough can continue to provide services throughout the month, Fullerton said.

Although many opted for furlough in July, others are taking their furlough later in the year, Fullerton said. Salaried employees must take their furlough all at once, but hourly employees can take it one day at a time. Some have opted to do so. Others are using furlough to extend time off around the holidays.