Tourism

Three days after the final ruling over how the city spends passenger fees, the Juneau Assembly approved a downtown waterfront improvement package Monday that will be paid for in large part with those fees.

The ruling allows the city to move forward on its annual budget process and figure out how it will use roughly $5 million in passenger fees next fiscal year. One of the proposals has already raised flags for the cruise industry.

Following Judge H. Russel Holland’s December ruling that passenger fees can only be used for services to cruise ships, the industry had asked the judge to go further. The final judgement opens an avenue for either party to appeal.

Cruise industry attorneys are asking a federal judge to define more precisely what the City and Borough of Juneau can — and can’t — spend its passenger fees on. The judge recently ruled passenger fees can only be spent on services to vessels. The city may appeal the ruling.

After just nine months, Island Air Express in Southeast Alaska is ending scheduled service between Petersburg and Juneau on Tuesday.

This year’s record cruise ship season brought in $21.6 million in state passenger fees that will be mostly shared with coastal communities. But the cruise industry’s recent victory in a lawsuit against Juneau has implications on how port communities can spend their share.