From an alcohol tax to Wasilla sales tax increase, voters asked to spend

PALMER — In addition to candidates, voters will be asked to decide a trio of ballot propositions in the upcoming election.

All three ballot measures have to do with money, either where it comes from or where it goes. Two are Valley-wide measures, the third only affects Wasilla.

Here’s a rundown:

Alcohol tax

Quite possibly the most visible thing on the ballot is a tax of up to 5 percent on alcohol that Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Steve Colligan proposed and got his colleagues to agree to put on the ballot.

Proponents of the measure include Colligan, who wants to diversify taxes, and the Mat-Su Health Foundation, which cites studies showing such taxes are effective in reducing alcohol abuse.

Opponents include industry groups like the Alaska Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailer’s Association, which say just the opposite, that the tax won’t have an appreciable affect on alcohol abuse.

Colligan’s original ordinance putting the measure on the ballot said that the money would be for education and emergency services. But the actual ballot language says nothing about that. It will be up to the assembly to decide that and a future assembly could change its mind about how to spend the money.

Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos said it couldn’t have been otherwise. The Alaska Constitution forbids voters from directing spending of tax dollars. It is up to the assembly to decide how tax money is spent.

“You cannot do it for dedication of revenue or appropriations,” Spiropoulos said.

Voters can, however, authorize a borough or city to borrow money or build a building, which brings us to the next ballot measure.

Road bonds

A relatively small package of bonds is on the ballot this go-around. It’s only $16.2 million this time. Last time it was more like $26 million. In both cases, that figure was half of the actual cost to build the roads. The borough won’t start any of the projects unless the state chips in the other half.

Also unlike previous packages is that every one of these projects has to do in some way with access to a school site. Here’s the list:

• $1.62 million to upgrade Clay-Chapman Road and Knik Knack Mud Schack Road to provide access to the planned Joe Redington Junior/Senior High School.

• $3.5 million to upgrade Lucille Street and a pathway to access Tanaina Elementary.

• $4.5 million to build a bridge and further provide access to Machetanz Elementary School off of South Trunk Road.

• $1.5 million to put a signal in on Seward Meridian Parkway at the entrance to Cottonwood Creek Elementary School.

• $3.25 million to restore access to Pioneer Peak Elementary School that will be erased by the project expanding and straightening Trunk Road.

• $1.5 million to upgrade the Vine Road and Hollywood Road intersection to handle traffic for Goose Bay and Knik elementary schools.

The Machetanz project has been an issue since before the school opened. Access now either sends parents miles out of the way down gravel roads or sends them through a subdivision not built to handle that traffic.

Library

The city of Wasilla has asked its voters to decide whether to build a library there. The funding mechanism would be a 1 percent increase in the city’s sales tax.

The library would cost $15 million to build, would be 23,500 square feet and would sit on a $1.3 million plot of land at Crusey Street and Swanson Avenue donated by the Mat-Su Borough for that purpose.

If approved, the 1 percent sales tax would be in effect until the cost of the project is collected or three years, whichever comes first. The city is also lobbying the Legislature to pick up half the value of the project, about $8 million. If that comes through, the sales tax would only collect the difference before sunsetting.

A recent planning meeting drew participants who wanted a building in keeping with the area’s natural beauty, with multiple ways to access it from local streets.

The current library is cramped and its parking lot something of a nightmare. The city has been after a new one for years, at one point buying the Meta Rose Square before determining the building was unfit to house a library.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.