Wasilla City Council returns to plastic bag tax debate

WASILLA—To tax or not to tax? As far as the proposed 10-cent excise tax on single-use plastic shopping bags is concerned, the topic is expected to come up for discussion at the Wasilla City Council’s next regularly scheduled meeting.

In his comments to council members at the group’s Aug. 28 meeting, Mayor Bert Cottle provided a brief synopsis of an Aug. 24 town hall meeting on the borough-wide tax that would be imposed on Mat-Su retailers with annual sales of $1 million or more.

Cottle said about 25-30 people testified at the town hall session, fewer than he expected. Cottle said that may be an indication that the public isn’t overly concerned about the proposal.

“I thought there would be more people there,” the mayor said. “More public input is better than less public input.”

Cottle reviewed the questionnaire that those attending was asked to fill out. It included five options: do nothing and see what happens, oppose the bag tax, ban plastic bags within the Wasilla city limits, and support the bag tax. The fifth option was a fill in the blank.

Cottle said some people checked more than one option. Of the received total, Cottle said 15 were in favor of the ban, two opposed and do nothing was one. Cottle said he contacted Palmer and Houston officials to get input on how it would affect the other Mat-Su cities’ business climate. He said Houston believes it will have one affected business — the newly opened Three Bears on Parks Highway. However, the mayor said, it will take one year of operation to see if it meets the proposed sales criteria.

“Palmer has eight, we have 140,” said Cottle. “That’s a good problem to have. So there’s about 149 (businesses) within the three cities that would be affected.”

Cottle said he wrote a letter to borough officials asking them to postpone a second public hearing on the proposed excise tax. Cottle said that would give the three affected cities time to determine a course of action, if any, each would pursue. Earlier this month, the Mat-Su assembly agreed to postpone any action on the topic indefinitely. The mayor said the borough has planned a second public hearing on the proposal at its Dec. 3 regular meeting.

When he asked if the council wanted to discuss the proposal now or later, or if at all, Councilman Tim Burney suggested the topic be placed on the group’s next regular meeting for general discussion. Cottle said he thinks doing so will lead to a “good discussion” on the issue.

Later in the meeting, the council spent slightly more than an hour in closed session discussing the possible sale of its Meta Rose Square building near the intersection of East Herning Avenue and North Main Street. Negotiations between the city and buyer have been ongoing for several months. After reconvening in open session, Cottle said negotiations continue and the council directed him to keep meeting.

“We’ll see what happens between now and the next meeting,” said Cottle.