Unalaska, AK – A former Unalaska City Council member is arguing that Unalaska should raise the taxes it levies on the Bering Sea fishing industry.

At Tuesday night's council meeting, Dennis Robinson read a letter asking the council to consider replacing the city's existing raw fish tax with a processed fish tax. That would mean that companies would be assessed at the higher market rate of their product, rather than the lower value the unprocessed fish has when it crosses the docks in Unalaska.

Robinson argued that such a tax could largely replace sales and property taxes in Unalaska, and could be a solution to the city's concerns over funding for geothermal exploration. He said that under the raw fish tax, the big players in the Bering Sea processing industry aren't giving back enough to the community considering the millions of dollars in resources they're harvesting each year.

"Right now, the processing plants, the only sales tax they pay is on fuel," he said after the meeting. "They don't purchase from the local businesses here, unless they have to. They're islands unto themselves. I think we need more of that money to stay in this community."

At the end of the meeting, the council directed the city manager to look into the legality of Robinson's proposal for future consideration. Council member Roger Rowland, who put forward the motion to do that, said those questions have to be answered before the council decides whether or not to seriously look at the idea. He said this afternoon that he could see positives and negatives to the proposal.

"When you squeeze a balloon, the air's going to come out somewhere," he said. "I'm not sure what the companies' reaction will be--people who process at sea, I worry that they could deliver their product at another facility, and not come through Dutch Harbor. So those are the kinds of things the administration needs to look at to see if it's feasible.

"I want to see the information," Rowland added. "If it works the way Mr. Robinson envisions it, it would be a great thing."