We should practice paying our own way

Mat-Su Borough voters Tuesday said no to higher taxes and no to jobs the associated ballot propositions would have created.

Voters said no to a $32.5 million road bond, a $9 million school athletic bond and a $3 million city of Palmer bond to purchase the former Matanuska Maid creamery property in Palmer.

You did agree to raise property taxes by approving a $34 million school bond, 70 percent of which will be paid by the state of Alaska, which in turn gets most of its revenue from oil production.

As the cost of living climbs for households and wages hold steady, it’s tough to choose to pay more in taxes. But at the same time, approval of these bonds would have had lasting benefits for generations of Mat-Su Borough residents.

Perhaps we were short-sighted in our rush to spare our own pocketbooks.

As one Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reader who supported the bonds said, “Roads = jobs.”

It’s simplistic, but true. Generally, capital projects equal jobs. Building roads and installing new athletic fields also equal opportunities for local contractors to bid work, win contracts and hire employees in the Mat-Su Borough.

We said no to that, too.

And the need for roads remains. Our population is expected to continue to grow. That means more cars, more houses and more traffic.

The student athletes we said no to will graduate, move on to careers and become taxpayers — hopefully in the Mat-Su Borough.

And we will still need roads, schools and athletic field upgrades.

By voting no, we have spared ourselves the tax burden by passing it to our children.

Millions of dollars were direct-deposited to many Alaskans’ bank accounts Thursday, thanks to Permanent Fund Dividend payments. At the same time, we pay no state income tax.

Old timers divide our short history as a state into two time periods: before oil and after oil. Before oil, they say Alaskans were the hardy, independent type. After oil, we changed.

Now we expect oil money to pave roads, build bridges, fund state government and pay us all to live here.

When we are asked to tax ourselves to build infrastructure that creates good jobs for local people, we decline.

Alaska’s days living high on the oil drum are likely coming to an end.

Since oil production peaked on the North Slope in 1988, throughput in the trans-Alaska pipeline system has declined year by year. This year it will drop another 5 percent to 6 percent.

All that’s kept state coffers full so far is the high price of oil, according to state Department of Labor Economist Neal Fried.

Production woes aside, all it would take to tank our economy is for the price of oil to drop to the $10 or $20 a barrel range. We should practice paying our own way now and invest in a future worthy of our children.