The City and Borough of Juneau reached an agreement with an industry group that represents cruise companies over the way it is spending money collected from cruise passengers.
The agreement brings an end to almost 3 years of litigation between CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) Alaska and the port city over how it spends cruise passenger fees.
CLIA Alaska filed a lawsuit against Juneau in 2016 citing US$10 million spent building a park and sea walk downtown as a misuse of funds.
In December 2018, a federal judge ruled the port city could continue collecting cruise passenger taxes but the revenue must be spent in a way which serves the cruise ships.
City Manager Rorie Watt said on Thursday, March 14, the agreement ended the debate and allowed Juneau to continue using fees the same way it had in the past, but already with more input from CLIA Alaska.
The agreement with CLIA Alaska states the US$8 in fees that passengers currently pay won't increase for at least 3 years, and that both parties are due to meet annually in order to discuss proposed projects.
Despite the fact that the city of Juneau gets to keep collecting and spending its fees, the agreement says it will pay US$1.5 million to CLIA Alaska for legal fees. The port city spent about US$800,000 on its legal defense.