Assembly Report for February 14, 2006

TO THE RESCUE: THIS TIME, THE 4TH AVE THEATRE: Assembly members voted on Tuesday to ask voters to approve $2M in general obligation bonds to acquire and restore the historic 4th Ave. Theatre located in the heart of downtown Anchorage. If approved in th April, 2006 election, the bond proceeds would be matched by private sector contributions necessary to acquire the theater at an estimated cost of $4M or less, depending on the results of a fair market appraisal. Details on how the theater would be operated, if acquired by the municipality, are not yet fully known. An amendment offered by Allan Tesche requires Assembly approval of an operations plan that would require the theatre to complement, and not compete with existing downtown businesses. The plan would must also “enhance the cultural and economic vitality of the downtown area.” Another floor amendment offered by Dan Coffey prohibits expenditure of any bond proceeds until matching funds for the purchase of the building from private and other public donors are received. Voting against the measure were Chris Birch, Dick Traini, and as is their custom on projects in the downtown area, Eagle River's Anna Fairclough, and Debbie Ossiander.

COFFEY’S SALES TAX GOES TO THE VOTERS WITHOUT HIS SUPPORT: despite little public interest (only 8 people testified) and a host of technical problems in drafting, the Assembly passed Dan Coffey’s proposal to ask voters in April to levy a 3% sales tax, with the proceeds dedicated to property tax relief. An exit strategy Coffey proposed earlier in the evening would have delayed a vote on the sales tax until 2007 by sending the issue an eleven member task force. Despite Coffey’s earlier concerns over the risks of taking the complex issue to a disinterested electorate, 6 Assembly conservatives rejected Coffey’s exit strategy and voted to send the tax proposal to the voters in the Apil 4, 2006 election. True to his earlier arguments in favor of more study and community support, Coffey actually voted against sending the 3% sales tax to the voters, along with Assembly members Tesche, Shamberg. Jennings and Traini.

Assembly insiders were startled by Anna Fairclough’s vote against Coffey's request to further study the proposed sales tax and her vote to place it on the April ballot. She had reportedly agreed earlier in the evening to support Coffey’s exit strategy and to give him another year to rewrite the measure with the help of his citizens’ task force. How or why Fairclough abandoned her Midtown colleague on the issue is not known. Contacting the Tesche Report on February 15th, Fairclough denies having made any committment to support Coffey's strategy and suggets that other Assembly members are to blame for its failure Tuesday night.

Left with his own 4% sales tax proposal that would cover most services as well, Assembly member Dan Sullivan too opposed Coffey’s exit strategy and insisted that members vote on his proposition. By a vote of 8-3, the Assembly voted down Sullivan’s proposal, effectively removing him as a leader in the conservative campaign to shift the burden of real property taxes from property owners and onto the backs of consumers, renters, and senior citizens. Voting with Mr. Sullivan were Chris Birch and Paul Bauer.

From the carnage of Tuesday’s battle between Assembly conservatives over their sales tax proposals, it remains unclear who will emerge as the primary spokesperson for an orphaned tax scheme that is no longer "the Coffey tax".

SCHOOL BOND PACKAGE GOES TO THE VOTERS: Facing a room filled with teachers, parents, students, and school district staff, the Assembly on Tuesday approved the Anchorage School District’s plan to ask voters to approve a $100M school bond package to voters in the April, 2006 election. If the voters agree, the bonds would allow the school district to continue a decade long program of repair and reconstruction of local schools. Subject to appropriation by the state legislature, a portion of the cost of these bonds will be reimbursed by the State. School district pollster Marc Hellenthall brushed asside a concern expressed from the Assembly that anti tax sentiment among voters and the decision of Assembly conservatives to force a public vote on a 3% sales tax might hurt the bonds during the spring election. Only Paul Bauer voted against a portion of the school bond package.

VOTERS MAY SOLVE MOUNT BALDY ACCESS WITH A LAND SWAP: Anchorage voters will decide whether to trade a portion of the city’s Mirror Lake/Edmonds lake Park to Eklutna, Inc., for 80 acres of land needed to assure public trail access to Mt. Baldy, located in Chugach State Park. The Assembly on Tuesday voted to send a ballot proposition to the voters in the April, 2006 election proposing the land swap in order to end a dispute over public access to Mt. Baldy and the remainder of Chugach State Park. The property to be acquired would also include a location for a trail head parking area.

ASSEMBLY LEADERS DITCH INSTANT RUN OFF PROPOSITION AT MID-HEARING: Right up against a midnight deadline and desperate to act on another ballot proposition (see below), Assembly conservatives on Tuesday abruptly halted public testimony on a ballot proposition asking Anchorage voters to adopt "instant runoff" voting in municipal elections. Seconds later, the meeting ended promptly at midnight with the public hearing on the measure still open, effectively keeping it off the spring ballot. Had it been approved, the proposition would have allowed voters to prioritize their choices of candidates for the same office on the ballot in order to ensure that the winning candidate ultimately elected receives at least 50% of the vote without the delay or a run off election. The abandoned proposition had been authored by Chris Birch.

50% MAYORAL RUN OFF PROPOSITION TANKS: Ken Stout and Dan Sullivan’s proposal to roll back rules governing runoff elections in the office of mayor splattered Tuesday night and will not appear on the April, 2006 ballot. A desperate effort by Assembly Chair Anna Fairclough to force an immediate vote on the measure late Tuesday without allowing a single word of Assembly discussion backfired when members ran out of time and could not act before the midnight deadline. Assembly conservatives wanted voters to change rules governing run off elections for the office of mayor by repealing a charter provision voters approved three years ago which requires a run off election in that office where no candidate receives 45% of the vote. If approved by the Assembly and the voters this April, the measure would have raised require a runoff if the leading candidate received less than 50% of the vote, thereby assuring Anchorage voters of additional mayoral elections in the future.