Tax on ballot; assembly overrides veto

PALMER — The mayor’s veto of an ordinance putting a borough sales tax on the October ballot lasted all of a week.

On Tuesday night, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted 6-1, with Mark Ewing in opposition, to override Mayor Talis Colberg’s veto of the controversial tax proposal.

The 3-percent sales tax proposed is coupled with a reduction in property taxes, which the ordinance caps at 7.3 mills. The ordinance also provides for a tax exemption on the first $20,000 of a home’s assessed value. It has come under fire from anti-tax conservatives and from the cities of Houston, Palmer and Wasilla, which levy their own sales taxes and worry about higher taxes driving business away and about the borough’s ability to distribute to the cities their share of the revenue.

The tax proposal’s proponents say it is a measure aimed squarely at reducing the property tax burden on Valley residents, pointing to measures in the ordinance designed to make sure the sales tax revenue doesn’t grow the size of borough government.

Many assembly members noted that in the week since Colberg vetoed the ordinance, e-mails and phone calls they have received have mostly expressed pro-tax sentiments. Assemblywoman Cindy Bettine said she was glad for the extra week both because those comments made her more confident in voting to override the veto and because it gave residents a chance to examine the changes the assembly made to the ordinance in last week’s meeting.

For his part, Ewing said his phone calls since the veto have trended the same way — six people supported overriding the veto and two opposed. He contrasted that to more than 70 people who told the assembly to vote against the ordinance in person at assembly meetings.

“To me, an e-mail is pretty easy to shoot off,” he said. But comments from folks who actually come to a meeting and sit through hours of debate to say their piece, he said, should be given more weight.

Assemblywoman Michelle Church said that it’s to be expected that pro-tax folks didn’t come to the meetings. That’s just how it goes.

“My experience is people don’t sit through six-hour meetings if they’re happy with what you’re doing,” she said.

Assemblyman Rob Wells said he’s not sure if a tax is a good idea or a bad one.

“I, for one, have not made a decision and probably won’t make a decision until Election Day,” he said.

But, he said, the ordinance was well-vetted and the assembly had deliberated it thoroughly. Now, he said, the voters should be given their chance to weigh in.

As the vote to override Colberg’s veto approached, Ewing said he hoped something had changed in the intervening week. The original vote to pass the ordinance — 5-2 with Ewing and Assemblyman Tom Kluberton in opposition — had been enough to override the veto.

“I think we’ve had a week to think about this and it’s my hope and wish that one of the members will see fit to swing their vote,” Ewing said.

One vote did, in fact, swing. Kluberton voted in favor of overriding the veto.

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