An open letter to the Mat-Su assembly

To the editor:

Every year the Mat-Su Borough collects property taxes on land west of the Susitna River, land that is outside the borough’s infrastructure. Tax dollars are collected with no intention of providing services to those who pay them. Every cent is spent for the benefit of those living on the road system. For years, property outside the infrastructure was taxed as raw land; not great, but most of us lived with it.

Then three years ago the assembly deemed it necessary to tax our improvements. Why? Because the assembly does not know how to live within its means. It goes by the bureaucrats’ normal method of money management of need more money, raise an existing tax or create a new one. The borough has a spending problem, so what does it do? Easy, find a group of people that can be milked for a few more dollars, people who the assembly does not have to spend money on for services to get those dollars.

If those of us who live or own property here have the audacity to ask what our tax dollars get us, we are told to pay up or they will take our home. It is bad enough people’s homes are taxed in the first place, but when the borough has the power to take someone’s home for non-payment, that is wrong. Taxing any of life’s necessities is nothing more than a legal form of extortion.

If I did that to my neighbor, I would end up as a guest of the state. With the borough it is not called a protection racket, it is “paying your fair share.” I would like someone on the assembly to explain to me why you choose those of us living across the Susitna River to pay for your spending habits. You certainly cannot use the “you are only paying your fair share” line; that would imply we are actually getting something in return for our tax dollars.

According to the pamphlet that comes with our tax bills, we are not paying a single cent for anything that will benefit us. We are paying for a library we have no reasonable access to. Animal control? Give me a break here. Why are we paying for a dogcatcher out here? Capital transfers? Right, my capital transferred to the borough’s bank account. Economic development? Could someone on the borough assembly please show me where all this economic development is taking place? It certainty is not happening on this side of the river.

This one really takes the cake, other services. What “other services?” We get nothing out here.

The borough serves no useful purpose. You drain our resources and give us nothing in return. We have no infrastructure, nor do we need one. There are no roads or utilities. There is no public library. There is no public safety.

So tell me, Mat-Su Assembly, just what are we getting for our tax dollars? What useful accessible services and benefits are you providing? I see no reason why the land west of the Susitna River and Cook Inlet is even part of the borough. You have nothing to offer us nor do you have the money to pay for it if you did. You people have a spending problem.

Chuck Lamb

Skwentna