The Unalaska City Council approved all funding requests from local nonprofits at a city council meeting April 23.
Eight organizations including KUCB submitted Community Support Grant applications. All received the full amounts of their requests.
The largest grant recipient is Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, which requested more than a million dollars to cover the cost of after-hours emergency care.
Most of the funding comes from the city’s general fund, with the exceptions of the health clinic and the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, who receive all or most funding from the city’s tobacco excise tax.
Assistant City Manager Marjie Veeder said five of the eight applicants this year requested more money than last year. Granting those requests in full is not expected to strain the budget, however, since funding for the clinic will not come from the general fund.
“It’s a good thing that we have that tobacco excise tax revenue available,” Veeder said during the meeting. “That makes it much easier for the council to fund that larger request from the clinic.”
The city adopted the tobacco excise tax in 2021, which is intended to “improve public health by reducing consumption of cigarettes and tobacco,” according to the city ordinance.
The ordinance says “revenue generated by the tax … is dedicated to the City of Unalaska Community Support Grant Program for the benefit of public health programs or tobacco education and cessation programs in Unalaska.”
Councilmember Daneen Looby said during the council meeting that supporting the clinic is exactly what the tobacco tax fund is for.
“There's not a whole lot we can use it for except for the clinic,” Looby said. “Those special revenue funds are specifically for special needs.”
Including funding for IFHS, this year’s community grant total is $2,397,146, a 59.6% increase from last year.
The following organizations received funding from the city:
- Iliuliuk Family & Health Services: $1,047,441
- Museum of the Aleutians: $373,058
- Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence: $349,940
- Unalaska Visitors Bureau: $218,000
- Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association: $130,000
- Unalaska Community Broadcasting: $122,500
- Qawalangin Tribe Culture Camp: $81,312
- Unalaska Senior Citizens: $74,895
