Borough government is out of control

July 14, 2006

SPECTRUM/Charlie Fannon

It is the duty of government to provide essential services: fire/ambulance, education, roads, etc., depending on what you define as essential. We do this by a taxation system usually voted on by the citizens served, but not always.

Here in the Mat-Su Borough, we depend on property taxes as determined by an assessment system. We also receive federal and state funds to assist in certain areas.

The system we use works, but I think it could be improved. Since the Reagan administration, some economists believe that when you cut taxes you improve the economy and create a more business friendly environment. I believe that our nation is prospering in spite of recent tax cuts at the federal level.

The problem is, how do you cut high taxes and still provide essential services? Here in the Mat-Su, most of the tax revenue comes from property owners.

The economic engine that drives the Mat-Su economy is the real estate and building industry. There is a current ongoing effort by the borough government, by planning policy, to slow down that economic engine, and one of the side effects of that policy will severely hurt the building trade's job market as well as developers and Realtors.

This policy is being promoted by the Borough Planning Department, the Planning Commission and the Friends of the Mat-Su. Recently, the Planning Commission proposed a resolution recommending that the Mat-Su Borough Assembly approve changes to Titles 16 and 17, as well as adopting the Planning Department's proposed Multi-Family Design Standards. It also needs to be noted that these proposed changes will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for low- and middle-income families to buy land and homes, because these proposed changes will substantially drive up the costs of both.

There have been months of public hearings regarding these proposed changes, and about 90 percent of all public comments have been against the proposed changes. Even with overwhelming public opposition, the Planning Department and commission have continued to push this agenda. When government stops serving the people, it is time to use your vote and change the government.

Some other things we can do is to get more public land into the hands of private owners. This will create more revenue and allow a decrease in an individual's current tax burden. It will also create more building/growth opportunities.

Growth cannot continue forever, but we need to take advantage of it now. We also need our borough government to be more business-friendly. Sometimes, the government seeks to block business opportunities, as they did last June with the $2 million gravel contract at Point MacKenzie, and as they been doing for several years by their involvement in the proposals for Hatcher Pass.

Over the last two years, the borough government has grown more than 45 percent, while our population has only grown at about 10.1 percent. These figures are arrived at after factoring out things like fund transfers, debt service and education.

What justification is there for government to grow four times faster than population growth for the same time period? In 2001, 2002 and 2003, the reason borough elected officials gave for government growth was that they were just catching up after years of no growth.

Here is the 2005-06 growth breakdown by department: assembly, 27 percent increase; clerk's budget, 46.9 percent increase; administration, 52 percent increase; general administration, 35 percent increase; IT, 79 percent increase; finance, 31 percent increase; and planning, 58 percent increase. The only areas of government where I believe growth should currently be supported are fire, ambulance, emergency services and information technology.

After years of government growth, haven't we had enough? Let's seek a government that is pro-business, pro-development and that promotes small government.

Let's support pushing government down to the local community. We have a government making decisions for us. I submit to you that currently you are working for a government that thinks it knows what is best for you and they are planning on saving you in spite of yourself.

There are several countries around the world that openly work like this, but I don't hear of that many Americans trying to move to those places.

Former Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon is a candidate for borough mayor.