Mat-Su residents want property tax lowered

"My taxes are high enough," was the common sentiment at Thursday's public hearing on the Mat-Su Borough budget, the first of two public hearings on the budget. The second public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Palmer High School.

More than 50 people gave up the evening hours of an incredibly beautiful spring day Thursday to let the assembly know their thoughts on the proposed borough budget. Some were there to voice support for fully funding public education, others advocated for funding for the borough's emergency services department, and several teens asked for funding for Mat-Su Youth Court, a program that seeks to defer teens from criminal behavior. Most, even those requesting support for other areas of the budget, said property taxes were high enough. Some were concerned they may not be able to afford to stay, if something isn't done to ease the burden on property owners.

"I'm the proud owner of the oldest house in Shaws Tri-Lakes … I agree that the people who are protecting our lives should have as much money as they need to do that and I don't have any children, but they need the money too -- but you have to draw the line somewhere," said Sherry Pinckley. "The Valley is a great place to live but … if my taxes go much higher, I'm just going to have to leave, and I really don't want to do that."

"I made the mistake of thinking you had less infrastructure out here and the tax load would be lighter," another testifier said. "When you have Alaskans who've lived here all their lives and say they'd give up their dream and leave this place, that's just unconscionable. The taxes are high enough."

Later in the meeting, some suggested cutting jobs at the administrative level in the school district, renewing discussions about a sales tax and promoting the development of revenue through more contracts at Port MacKenzie, responsible development of coal-bed methane and other areas.

"The taxes we pay up here are quite a bit less than the taxes they pay in Washington state," said Ken Slauson, "but we really have pushed the individual property owner about as far as we can."

The comments apparently did not fall on deaf ears at the assembly.

Assembly Member Bruce Bush said he was struggling over how to vote on the $2.7 million additional appropriation the school district requested, in anticipation of a jump in the maximum amount the school district can receive from local municipalities. He said he, too, feels the burden of increased property taxes.

"There's been a lot of talk about cutting this and cutting that; we're going to have to do some cutting almost everywhere. I don't have enough money to pay the taxes to the property I own," said Assembly Member Bruce Bush. "We're just regular citizens here, too, and we're trying to make it the best we can."

Mat-Su Borough Mayor Tim Anderson said, even without considering the $2.7 million increase, the borough assembly would be hard-pressed to find easy areas to cut back in this budget. The proposed budget this year is 12.95 mills, compared to last year's rate of 11.48 mills.

"It takes a cut of about $4 million to cut one mill out of this budget," Anderson said. "And it's hard to add up $4 million to cut a mill out of this thing. We need to diversify our revenue base -- and that takes some time, it doesn't just happen overnight."

Anderson said while the borough assembly will look for other areas of revenue, it's not likely a sales tax will be the source of choice.

"A sales tax has not been mentioned and, quite frankly, it's not likely to be," Anderson said. "I think we learned our lesson on that. I, for one, do support a sales tax, if it offsets the property tax … but we have to find some ways to keep the property taxes at a reasonable level. It's a tough decision this year -- to maintain or lower … would mean not funding education to the max."

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.