Legislature needs new solutions to old problems

Simply Sleight, by Kari Sleight

The members of the Alaska Conference of Mayors met last week in Juneau and unanimously passed a vote of "No Confidence" in the Alaska Legislature's ability to develop a solution to the state's budget woes. They claim the state's shift of money problems to the local government level has led to higher property taxes and reduced basic services. It seems that the only people who didn't see that coming was the Alaska Legislature, who responded to the "No Confidence" resolution with surprise and downright indignation.

Everyone is grumbling about the declining services we have come to expect as modern society grows and develops. Running water when we turn on the tap, waste flushed away with a touch of a handle, schools to educate our children in, garbage hauled away at regularly scheduled intervals, paved roads to drive our vehicles on, and emergency services to keep us safe a mere phone call away are just a few of the amenities we expect from our local and state government. As the area population increases, so do the demands for the aforementioned services.

It's time for our elected representatives to stop worrying so much about committing "political suicide" and pass legislation that will come to the aid of our local governments. No one seems to want to step up to the plate and introduce a piece of legislation that proposes new taxes (sales or income), or proposes eliminating the permanent fund dividend, although there is currently a proposal to use permanent fund earnings to help balance the state budget. Any piece of legislation that's introduced that increases the amount we pay out of our pockets or reduces the money going in them is bound to create ire among the constituents. I personally don't want to give up any more of my income, but there comes a time when we need to weigh the options -- and the time is now.

All our elected officials agree that something needs to be done, however, it's time to quit talking about it and put something in action. Yes, the governor has proposed resource development as a means to generate revenue, but that takes too much time and time is short.

Aside from taxes and permanent fund earnings, I think there is other revenue streams our government agencies could look to.

Most of us agree that crime is high and perpetrators often are let off with little more than a slap on the hand as long as they promise never to do it again. A shortage of police officers and prosecutors, coupled by an overburdened court, leave little alternative to allowing all but the worst offenders go unpunished. One only needs to read the pages of our newspaper to find the countless repeat offenders of driving with license revoked/suspended, driving under the influence, driving with no insurance, etc. If we enact laws that take a bigger bite out of the wallets of those who insist on repeatedly snubbing the law, perhaps we would see their population decline. Many states and local agencies throughout the United States have passed laws that allow the charging agency to confiscate and sell personal items of those charged with these infractions. If you choose to drive under the influence, you lose your car. Choose to drive uninsured, lose you car. Should you decide to grow marijuana, lose your house and/or your personal belongings. The confiscated items would then be sold and the proceeds used to help fund our overburdened emergency service and court systems.

Perhaps some of this newfound revenue could then be used for seed money to finance effective traffic patrol divisions. Judging by the number of speeders and tailgaters I encounter on my daily journey to work alone, undoubtedly it would take little time for this extra patrol to not only pay for itself, but to further increase the state and local coffers. If nothing else, it would serve to make our roads safer.

As a final solution, we could all start pitching in a dollar or so every week to play the lottery in the Lower 48. With the amount of people we have traveling south in any given week, it seems we should have little problem finding volunteers to purchase the tickets for us. And, even if only half of the state's residents gave up their dollar a week, we would have more than 300,000 chances of winning with every ticket. The odds sound good and who knows? Maybe we can win big.

Kari Sleight is the publisher of the Frontiersman newspaper.