Veto override predicted

Frontiersman

PALMER — The borough mayor may have vetoed the sales tax ordinance, but it’s not dead yet and tonight the assembly will have another crack at it.

“I think we will overturn it,” Assemblyman Michelle Church said of Mayor Talis Colberg’s veto. “I mean, it was a 5-2 vote and that’s enough to overturn, and I think everyone who voted in favor had specific reasons for voting.”

The ordinance doesn’t create a sales tax but instead puts it to a vote of the people. The tax as proposed is linked to a reduction in property tax, both through an exemption on the first $20,000 of a home’s income and through a cap in the mill levy of 7.3.

Many people have spoken in opposition to the measure, most of whom expressed skepticism that the tax, if passed, would really result in a reduction of property taxes. Also on the opposition side are the administrations of the cities of Houston, Palmer and Wasilla.

Church said that despite the testimony at the last meeting, which was uniformly opposed to the idea, the majority of the feedback she’s gotten in e-mails and phone calls has been positive.

“The comments that I’ve received it’s probably 3-1 saying, ‘Please override,’” she said. “They’re not saying they’re going to vote for it or against it but they want the opportunity to say yes or no.“

Cindy Bettine, one of the ordinance’s co-sponsors, said she believes Mayor Talis Colberg’s veto will be overridden.

“I think that based on the public comments that I’ve got it would be hard for me to see anybody that voted ‘yes’ changing their vote,” Bettine said. Especially, she noted, since a vote against the ordinance would be a vote against putting it before the people.

“It becomes the right to vote. That’s really the issue,” she said.

Bettine also took some time to point out where the flaws are in the arguments against the tax.

Regarding the worry that the tax, once it’s in place, will end up generating more money than anyone anticipated which will then be spent on growing borough government:

“I don’t see that. We have the revenue cap in place. This assembly even has never ever gone all the way up to the cap,” she said.

The revenue cap, she pointed out, keeps the borough from collecting more than a certain amount of money. Even setting that cap aside, the assembly has worked very hard to put measures in place to make the tax revenue-neutral, meaning that it won’t bring in more money than that needed to make up for the property tax reduction.

As to fears that the borough will put the tax in place and then start ratcheting up the sales tax:

“I do not believe that we can raise sales tax without a vote of the people. We can property tax but I don’t think we can raise sales tax,” she said. “Just because people vote ‘yes’ that doesn’t mean that next year we can raise it to 4 percent.”

As for concerns from those who don’t believe that the tax will save them any money:

“The important thing is that with the new change the average home of $209,000 will save $711 in their property tax,” Bettine said. “If they spend $20,000 in taxable items, that’s only $600.”

And a sales tax is the kind of tax people can moderate how much they pay. If things get tight financially, folks can cut back on spending and the borough will get an even smaller piece of a person’s income.

What about the complaint that voters have repeatedly said “no” to a sales tax?

“There’s never been anything like this on the ballot,” Bettine said. “I think never before has it been tied like this to a reduction in property tax for the residents.”

Colberg, in the memo explaining his veto, wrote that he understood the votes that passed the ordinance in the first place were enough to override his decision. He said he felt a veto was a good way to get everyone to discuss the issue more and take another look.

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, one of the ordinance’s most ardent foes, said he hopes that the 5-2 vote won’t hold.

“A lot of people are working to change some minds,” he said.

Still, even if no assembly member changes his mind, he doesn’t see a rosy future for the ordinance.

“If they get it on the ballot and I think it’s dead on arrival,” he said.

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