Assembly Report for January 31, 2006

MIDWINTER IN AKUTAN: In a Goose at 3,000 ft. above Akutan, Alaska on January 27, 2006. Anchorage residents can forget just how beautiful the rest of Alaska is until we reacquaint ourselves with more reomote areas such as the Aleutian Islands.

COFFEY, SULLIVAN SALES TAX MEASURES DELAYED: Almost year in the making, Dan Coffey’s proposal to ask voters to approve a 3% sales tax on many goods sold in Anchorage and dedicated to property tax relief has been postponed until February 14th for another public hearing and action by the Assembly. An error in the title of the ordinance forced Coffey to reintroduce the measure with a corrected title and ask the Assembly to delay consideration of the matter for another two weeks. The Assembly also delayed action on a competing 4% tax measure proposed by Dan Sullivan to February 14th.

Coffey's 3% percent tax would apply to most goods, but exempts services. If passed, the proposition would reduce property taxes by about 25 % and generate $90 to $100 million a year. The cap on Coffey's plan is at $500 on any single purchase. Dan Sullivan's 4% sales tax would produce about$180-200 million a year. Sullivan's would also tax most services -- attorney fees, car repairs, for example. and would cut property taxes by 50 percent, according to city estimates.

Despite confusion among assembly members over the status of the four or five competing sales tax propositions, Chair Anna Fairclough said on Tuesday that the public will be allowed to testify on the newest Coffey tax proposal even though it is largely identical to the earlier ones, AO 2005-126 and AO 2005-126(S) he previously submitted.

LARGE ANIMAL ORDINANCE COMING BACK FOR MORE WORK: To allow Assembly member Janice Shamberg to review floor amendments made to the new Large Domestic Animal ordinance passed while she was out of town last week, the Assembly voted to reconsider the measure and to review it on February 28th. As passed and amended last week, the ordinance is available in the Clerk’s office or on line as AO 2005-150(S-1)(Amended).

AREAWIDE PARKS PLAN BACKBURNERED (AGAIN): Local residents will have to wait until March 28th for action on the new Anchorage Bowl Park, Natural Resource, and Recreation Facility Plan. (AO 2005-122). Representing months of work by citizens, members of the Parks and Recreation Commission and city staff, the plan sets policy for use and development of dozens of parks and recreation areas throughout the Anchorage bowl. The plan has been before the Assembly since September of last year.

ROADS, PUBLIC SAFETY, AND PARKS BONDS HEADED TO THE BALLOT: Assembly members agreed on Tuesday to ask voters to approve road bonds in the amount of $44.1M and homeland security and public safety bonds in the amount of $12.9M in the April, 2006 municipal election. $1.9M in bonds for the Anchorage Fire Service Area and $3.9M in parks bonds were also approved and sent to the voters.

VOTERS TO DECIDE ENFORCEMENT OF NON MOVING VIOLATIONS: The Assembly unanimously passed Dan Coffey ‘s proposal to allow voters in April, 2006 to repeal a charter provision which requires sworn police officers to handle parking citations and vehicle right of way violations. The current charter provision was enacted by initiative in 1997 after a community revolt over zealous parking enforcement and photo radar. The rationale behind Coffey's proposal is to reduce the costs of parking enforcement, vehicle impounds, and right of way enforcement by allowing non sworn personnel to handle these functions. If approved by the voters, Coffey’s charter amendment allows the Chief of Police to designate municipal employees as peace officers for purpose of enforcing non moving vehicle and right of way codes.

CHANGE IN MAYORAL RUN OFF RULE HITS A SNAG: A technical snag caught Ken Stout and Dan Sullivan Tuesday night and forced a delay on action on their proposed "rollback" of rules governing runoff elections in the office of mayor. The pair had previously proposed that Anchorage voters 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. Stout and Sullivan reintroduced their ordinance, making it clear it would be voted upon in the Spring, 2006 election but would take effect in April, 2009. If approved by the Assembly and the voters this April, the measure would raise 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. A public hearing on the corrected ordinance is now scheduled for February 14th.