The Port of Valdez

State of Alaska has no sales tax and no income tax,” he states. “But the city has a high property tax – 20 mills. So, the city has quite a large income from that – about $40 million a year.” “And we’ve got all kinds of projects,” he con- tinues. “It’s one of the nice things having a revenue stream from the taxes. We just re- constructed the cruise ship terminal, with a facelift, a remodel, and a new interpretive center there. That was a $4 million project. A new commercial harbor has been a five-year project. It’s in its last year; we’ll open that this year. That’s an $82.6 million expansion. The Army Corps of Engineers teamed up with us to complete that. The container dock is getting a $4 million electrical upgrade to handle all the fish exports. It will also allow us to handle fish exports for other regional ports, as well.” Regarding the cruise ship business, Talbott says that at one time, some 100 dockings a year were common. “After Glacier Bay opened up, they kind of stopped coming,” he says rue- fully. “After 9/11, they really stopped coming because they couldn’t do tours across the bay at the Alyeska terminal.” However, two major cruise lines will begin making regular stops again in Valdez, this coming summer. Viking Ocean Cruises will be making eight stops during its eleven day "Alaska and the Inside Passage" cruise, and Holland America will be passing through Valdez three times as part of its twenty-one day "Ultimate Alaska and Pacific Northwest Adventurer" cruise. Looking to the future, Talbott says the city is working on a waterfront master plan which in- cludes expanding the port’s services to include dry stack and marine industrial trades. “After