Tax cap: School board member argues 'no' is the way to go

Been wondering if the tax cap is good or bad? Wondering what the facts are? Let's take a look.

To begin with, if we focus on what the function of government is and how well it does its job, we may find we like many of the things government does with our money.

Government does things private industry can't do. Some communities have attempted to reduce costs by contracting with "for-profit" fire and police services. In virtually every case, the citizens reversed themselves.

Communities prefer their police and firefighters come from and serve only their local community. Let's examine our community government and give them a report card.

First we'll grade school performance. If you missed seeing these results which were published in Alaska newspapers, here they are again. Students from our Mat-Su School District participated in the statewide high school exit exams. How did our kids do?

Mat-Su was first, Anchorage second, with everybody else playing catch- up. In reading, Mat-Su scored higher than Anchorage students, 85 percent to 78 percent, in writing 55 percent to 51 percent, and in math 41 percent to 36 percent.

Remember, these are our local 10th-graders taking the 12th-grade graduation exam. They are not only performing 12th-grade work in 10th grade but they are doing it better than every other community in the entire state. Furthermore, we send our Mat-Su graduates to Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard military academies, to Yale and Harvard, as well as MIT and every other major university.

Much of the reason Mat-Su does so well is that our school district attracts excellent and productive teachers.

An outstanding example is a music teacher at our local elementary school. This great lady teaches music at Pioneer Peak. She works through her planning period, through her break, before school and again after school. I don't know about you, but I've seen this wonderful teacher take an entire group of kids who can't distinguish a musical note from a house key and in the space of one semester mold the group into a functioning band.

Our Mat-Su school district also produces excellent, well-rounded athletes who receive full scholarships to the best colleges and honor us with their performances. It's a credit to all the local volunteer coaches and parents that deliver these athletes from our elementary-school programs to our middle and high school coaches.

And what about our coaches? We have teams in the Mat-Su Football Association at three levels, grades third/fourth, fifth/sixth, and seventh/eighth. At each level they play other teams and the single best team in each of the three groups concludes its season at Anchorage Football Stadium to play the best team Anchorage has to offer.

Our teams are seriously outnumbered and outweighed. As an example our fifth/sixth team met the Anchorage team that boasted three linemen at 160 pounds. We were outweighed nearly 20 pounds per position. So how'd we do? Not too bad!

We won the fifth/sixth state championship, and the third/fourth state championship and also the seventh/eighth state championship. Outgunned and outmanned, it didn't matter, Mat-Su school kids beat them all.

Why? Because we have involved parents and dedicated coaches. And at this writing, Colony High School is sending its undefeated Knights football team to play Anchorage's undefeated Dimond Lynx for the state championship this Saturday at Anchorage Football Stadium.

Don't miss it.

Second, let's grade local government. Not only does our Valley excel in schools and sports, but we also win accolades for efficiency in local government.

Mat-Su government works so well it only takes one employee for every 320 of its residents. No other Alaska community government can match that. The state of Alaska, just about the most inefficient government anywhere, requires one employee per 43 residents. Anchorage barely manages one per 95. Fairbanks is the closest to Mat-Su with one per 244.

We win hands down. Per-capita, Mat-Su is using only one borough employee compared to the state's 7.5 employees. If anybody is thinking the tax cap will lead to more efficiency in Mat-Su government, they should first look toward every other community in the state and then congratulate our local government.

Third, let's consider our roads and service areas. You may not know this but Mat-Su has a paid full-time road supervisor and a whole bunch of volunteer unpaid supervisors. I know, I'm one of the unpaid supervisors.

And I thank the good Lord that our paid supervisor does the amazing job he does. I ride with him occasionally. Our guy knows every mile of our 1,000 miles of road and continuously looks after work crews, contractors and road conditions. On average our borough is paving 30 miles of road each year and increasing our level of maintenance and repairs on existing roads to the point where we are fast becoming a model for others to copy.

In spite of these community achievements, we have been criticized by some vocal politicians and even some well-meaning individuals as purveyors of "doom and gloom" and "The sky is falling." My guess is that when people make fun of you using name-calling and innuendo, you are probably on the right track.

Actually, we citizens of Mat-Su are quite satisfied with our local government and the mountains and sky over Mat-Su aren't falling. In fact they look as nice as ever. It appears like "doom and gloom" descriptions belong solidly on the Kalenkas and Eddie Burkes of Anchorage who don't much care about community. As far as they can see the horizon is limited and Kalenka and Burke would love to determine how things ought to be not just in Anchorage, but everywhere else.

Have you wondered just what it is for business owners like Eddie Burke that makes the tax cap so attractive? I know this, the more business real estate you own, the more you benefit from a 10-mill cap. Does Eddie Burke own a business? You can bet on it. But so do Wal-Mart, Safeway, Fred Meyer and all the other national chains. They are the real winners of a tax cap.

Right now they pay a fair share of tax but that will end if a tax cap passes. Did you notice the biggest landowners in Anchorage are contributing huge sums of money to the tax-cap advertising blitz? Doesn't that tell you something? What they don't pay in future taxes will assuredly come from somewhere. Guess where, Mr. Taxpayer?

Here in the Valley, we actually like our schools, our police and firefighters, our EMTs, and our road service areas, and even each other. Our local Mat-Su government is doing a fine job with its 320 to 1 ratio and we citizens like that efficiency.

Our Mat-Su schools are producing the best students and our athletic and art programs are working. Our elders take pleasure from our pools and senior centers. We enjoy decent roads, parks, and ball fields. If you're worried about government inefficiencies, look at what is considered by many to be the Alaskan model of inefficiency - our very own state government in Juneau with its horrible one government employee per 43 residents.

So may I say to all those non-Mat-Su voters, if you don't like your community, work to change it and don't vote to change ours. Give us the same courtesy we give you in determining how local government serves its local citizens.

I'm voting a solid "no" on the Tax Cap. I hope Mat-Su voters will agree. We adults, our kids, and our community will be the better for it.

Carl J. Gatto is a Palmer resident and member of the Mat-Su School Board.