Wasilla pays for tax study

WASILLA — The Wasilla City Council voted to pay $10,000 to the Alaska Municipal League to fund a study on municipalities ability to collect a sales tax from online retailers following the Supreme Court’s decision on Wayfair v. South Dakota.

Ordinance 19-01 appropriated the money from the general fund to study how cities could effectively tax online retailers delivering goods within city limits. Wasilla is unique among Mat-Su Borough cities in that it does not collect a property tax, relying almost solely on sales taxes for revenue.

“The supreme court said yeah that may have been a great thing in the 1860’s, but the internet has changed the playing field a little bit. So cities like Wasilla, like Palmer, if they want to charge sales tax they should have the ability to charge that sales tax to online retailers that deliver inside their city limits,” said Councilman Stu Graham.

Graham and Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle sit on the AML board of directors, and Cottle is a past AML president. Graham believes that the wording of the decision leaves states to believe that they are the only entity that can collect sales tax. Wasilla was charged $10,000, twice as much as the city of Palmer would be charged should they agree to fund the study, because of their size and revenue stream.

‘“I’ve got a lot of respect for Mr. Graham, but I just want everybody to know that there’s not a consensus up here that we need to find another tax in the city,” Councilman Tim Burney said.

Resolution 19-02 passed unanimously, allowing the city to negotiate with the Wasilla Police Department Employees Association on the expired contract for Wasilla Police Officers. Wasilla Police Department houses MATCOM, which answers over 800 phone calls a day. When the Wasilla Police Department was built, 16 people worked in the building. Now, 63 people work in the WPD building, which has led the city to build a new police department behind the Veterans Wall of Honor. The new police department will be 20,000 square feet, twice the size of the current building, and cost $12 million. The new police department is set to be complete in 2020, and Graham says that due to the increased spending on the department, the city may have to bite the bullet on costs until construction is complete. The resolution allows for the police officers to begin contract negotiations within seven days.

“The membership voted it down they voted it down I believe not because of the contract, but because of who was representing the membership. As far as the actual contract, I think we had an agreement,” WPD Chief Gene Belden said.

The WPD currently has six open positions, three of which may be filled by trainees, but are not currently.

“Six is a big number,” Graham said.

WPD has broadened their search for new officers by advertising in the Lower 48. Graham proposed that the city negotiate a one-year contract this time so that they can offer a longer contract with better pay and benefits to be more attractive to new hires.

“We’ve broadened our searches and it’s not just us. Part of it is pay, part of it is a lack of defined benefits and so when we go to Juneau in February, one of the things on the mayor’s calendar we’re going to talk about is statewide the lack of qualified applicants for all law enforcement agencies,” Cottle said.

WPD had two officers hired away to Kenai and Anchorage, and according to Cottle, 10 percent of APD officers are Valley residents.

“Everybody’s trying to steal everybody else’s police officers,” Cottle said.

The difference in pay per hour between WPD and APD can be anywhere from six to eight dollars an hour. Cottle said he hopes to have the contract before the council within 30 days.

“We need officers on the street. We need safety resource officers in our schools. We need to provide a safe city for our citizens to be in,” Graham said.

Cottle noted that the 20-mile stretch of Knik-Goose Bay Road had its first motor vehicle collision resulting in a death last Friday. Knik Goose-Bay sees 19,000 cars a day and had more deaths than the 120-mile Seward Highway.

“I bring that up for two reasons: one is be careful when going on KGB, number two is we need to get KGB done. No more politics, no more dragging our feet,” Cottle said. “That road was already supposed to be halfway done by now. It has been drug out and drug out and drug out.”

Cottle urged the crowd to speak with legislators on the topic.

The Mayor issued a proclamation declaring Jan. 21 as Martin Luther King Jr., Day.

“Just as it was in the 60’s, I think Dr. King’s message today rings true and even though we’re not talking about civil rights we are talking about civility in today’s society,” Graham said. “I highly recommend that we look back at Dr. King and say that violence is not acceptable in any sort of civil discussion.”

The council unanimously passed $3,750 to upgrade the navline click2gov online utility store. The council also unanimously approved the appointment of Nikki Velock to the planning commission.

“Burchell hs was nominated as national capturing kids hearts showcase. Out of 10,000 schools across the nation that use capturing kids hearts process, 225 schools were nominated as national showcase. Burchell is one of those 225, a tremendous honor,” Burchell High School Student Representative Louise Eaton said.

Eaton also told the council in her report that Burchell students made blankets for The Children’s Place during the month of December and will be making cookies for MyHouse during January.

Members of the Cub Scout Pack 359 presented the colors at the meeting on Monday. Mayor Cottle recalled when the Lake Lucille wooden dam was failing and scouts packed nearly 1,000 bags full of sand to reinforce it before it could be repaired. Scouts also hand-raked sand onto Newcomb Park at Wasilla Lake. “Anytime we need labor, they’re there. So I just want to thank them for doing the job they do,” Mayor Cottle said.

Target became the first offender of the plastic bag ban enacted in Wasilla. Target was written a warning for handing out single use plastic bags last weekend when they ran out of reusable bags.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.