Registration permanent, garbage fees postponed

PALMER — The first regular Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting of the summer was characterized more by what didn’t change than what did.

At its Tuesday, Aug. 4 meeting, the assembly decided permanent vehicle registrations will continue indefinitely over concerns over fairness and Valley residents will still pay elevated rates at the borough landfill transfer sites — at least for now.

District 1 assemblyman Jim Sykes had sponsored an ordinance change repealing permanent registration for vehicles older than eight years. Last year the borough became the first in the state to adopt permanent vehicle registration tag for vehicles older than eight years. At the time, Mat-Su/Chugiak Rep. Bill Stoltze (who is now a state senator) proposed the changes over concerns about the amount of money the Department of Motor Vehicles collected.

Budget projections show the elimination of funds from biennial registration fees will begin to cost the borough about $1.2 million starting in Fiscal Year 2017, and $2.4 million during each successive year, according to borough projections. Officials at the time dismissed concerns about revenue, though those concerns resurfaced again during budget negotiations this year amid reductions in federal and state funding.

“With the decline in oil revenue, the decline in state budgets and a reduction in education funding from the state, it is more critical than ever that the Matanuska-Susitna Borough retain a broad tax base,” a summary statement included with the bill reads. “To that end, it is also critical that the permanent registration be repealed immediately and this repeal be implemented immediately.”

However, repealing the measure would create two classes of citizens: those who took advantage of the permanent registration during the roughly eight-month window for permanent registration and those who were unable to take advantage, Sykes said.

“We have arrived at a bit of an unfairness,” he said.

Permanent registration passed based on two sets of figures, creating a window for incorrect information and correct information to be pondered at the same time, Sykes said. Permanent registration also costs more than regular biennial registration, and some portion of that increased fee will offset the lost revenue, though officials say they don’t know how much money that will be.

District 4 assemblyman Steve Colligan is a proponent of the measure championed by ex-District 6 assemblyman Jim Colver. Using the registration fee to cover dust control was inefficient, Colligan said.

“The only legitimate argument I think I heard has to do with dust control and funds that roll to our road service areas,” he said. “The discussion to me is dimes chasing dollars, collecting dollars for things that are pennies and dimes for dust control, and the rest of it goes to largesse of government.”

The assembly ultimately voted 6-0 to postpone the measure.

Users of the borough’s transfer fee stations also will have to wait to see whether disposal rates decrease. Borough officials hiked the rates twice since January 2014, which amounts to 181 percent for a three-cubic-yard load. Officials say some rates, including the most common fee rate of two cubic yards, only increased by 36 percent.

That’s too much, said resolution sponsor and District 5 assemblyman Dan Mayfield. Mayfield’s district includes the Big Lake transfer site, the busiest among the eight rural transfer sites. It costs almost $3 million to run the transfer sites. The enterprise fund containing the finances has accrued almost $5 million in low-interest state loans. Mayfield sought Tuesday to roll rates back to the amounts of the original Jan. 1 increase, which officials have said would be enough of an increase to begin paying back some of the loans.

Lieba Putnam, whose house burned July 4, said her family had paid $4,500 in contractor fees to deposit debris, when they would have paid $1,500 under the old system. Sticker shock could drive people to dump trash along roads, Putnam said.

“Its going to end up on roadsides, and seniors that are picking it up, on families that are picking it up, that can’t afford that increase,” she said.

Big Lake resident and former assembly member Cindy Bettine testified that community groups already have seen an uptick in trash deposited on roadways since the last rate increase.

The assembly ultimately voted 4-2 to postpone that measure until Aug. 18.

The assembly also voted 5-1 to indefinitely postpone changes to the business inventory tax.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.