Assembly Report for March 28, 2006

ASSEMBLY OKS SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET: Assembly members on Tuesday approved an operating budget for the Anchorage School District in 2006-7. Overall expenditures are $608.2M, up $36.2M or 6.3% from last year. Local taxes to support the proposed budget will rise to $191.2M, up 7.9%. Two thirds (62.5%) of the revenues needed to support the Districts’s General Fund will likely come from State sources, down from recent years. Federal funds will make up only 3.2% of the district’s General Fund in 2006-7. Rising fuel costs, required pension contributions, and declining state revenues were blamed by Superintendent Carol Comeau for the increases. By a lopsided vote of 8-2, members rejected a last minute effort by Dan Sullivan and Paul Bauer to cut the district’s budget by 1% or $4.6M.

SULLIVAN SIGN ORDINANCE REPEAL STALLS: The Assembly heard public testimony but did not act on Dan Sullivan’s proposal to roll back major provisions of the city’s sign ordinance. About 12 persons testified on the ordinance until the meeting adjourned, leaving several dozen people lined up to speak. The public hearing will resume on April 11th.

Under Sullivan’s proposal, amortization or phase out of outlawed "pole signs" and older signs that do not meet current dimensional requirements would be repealed, thereby allowing these nonconforming signs to rust in place, forever. Examples would include the airport parking sign on International Airport Road, the Outback sign on C St and those monster golden arches under which "Billions and Billions" of hamburgers have been served. Sullivan would also increase the allowable area of signs devoted to "changeable copy" (electronic messages) from 30% to 80%. His law would also bring back moving or rotating signs along the streetscape. keeping the community guessing, Sullivan's third version of this ordinance, AO 2005- 163(S-1), is now the version he has ask the Assembly to pass, although on Tuesday, Sullivan hinted that a fourth version may be in the works for presentation after the public hearing closes.

NEW WEB CALCULATOR SHOWS SALES TAX IMPACTS: To understand how the 3% sales tax proposed by Assembly leaders would affect your family, click on the following URL and use my new Sales Tax Calculator:

http://tesche.us/salestax.asp

The Calculator gives you only a rough estimate of the impact of the proposed 4% tax on your family finances, based on the information you provide. Actual results will vary depending on more precise information about your own consumption of taxable goods, your family income and federal tax bracket. The calculator does not take into consideration the favorable impact of Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends which, when combined with relatively low overall state and local taxes, makes Alaska the cheapest place to live in America.

ANCHORAGE BOWL PARK PLAN POSTPONED (AGAIN): Anchorage residents will have to wait until April 18th 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 municipal park system consisting of 10,600 acres of parks, 200 parks, 75 playgrounds, 110 athletic fields, 240 miles of trails, 25 indoor facilities, and 8 public lakes . The plan has been before the Assembly since September of 2005. A work session is planned for April 14th. Copies of the revised plan are available at the Parks and Recreation Department through Jeff Dillon, and may be posted on line.

DOWNTOWN BARS BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Licenses for three downtown bars were on the line Tuesday night and received mixed reviews from the Assembly. Members opened a public hearing on a transfer of a liquor license requested by owners of the Calypso Bar, a new establishment set to open at 6th and A St., immediately across from the Anchorage Museum. Potential neighborhood concerns from surrounding residents prompted members to continue the public hearing on the Calypso licence to April 11th and schedule a work session with the bar owners for April 7th. Members also considered a license renewal for The Panhandle, an established 4th Ave. watering hole targeted by the Anchorage Police Department for illegal activities. After hearing from the owners, members decided to approve renewal of the license with conditions imposed. Finally, Assembly member Dan Sullivan presented his own application for transfer of a beverage dispensary license to 625 G St. in the downtown area where he and several partners will open up McGinley’s Alaskan Pub. The Assembly approved Mr. Sullivan’s requested transfer of ownership and location for a new Irish theme bar. A public (no pun intended) hearing on the required conditional use permit for Sullivan’s new faucet is scheduled before the assembly on April 14th. Opening of the new Platinum Jax, the Calypso, and McGinley’s this year suggests the downtown bar scene is alive, well, and just waiting for the opening of a new museum and civic and convention center.

SEPARATE ZONING FOR EAGLE RIVER MAY BE CONSIDERED: Passage Tuesday night of AR 2006-72 may give residents of Chugiak-Eagle River a chance to modify proposed changes to local land use and zoning laws to reflect the "unique and distinct" features of that community. The resolution calls for "placeholder" measures and a separate chapter in the proposed rewrite of city zoning laws for Chugiak-Eagle River without impeding progress on the rewrite. Emphasis was made during Assembly discussion of the need to update a separate comprehensive plan for the area as an important first step in shaping regulatory measures - specific zoning regulations and mapping - necessary to implement that plan. Anna Fairclough and Debbie Ossiander were joined by Allan Tesche as co sponsors of the resolution, which passed unanimously

NEW ETHICS CODE EMERGES APRIL 7TH: Ken Stout promised Assembly members on Tuesday he will have a new draft Code of Ethics for release before a work session scheduled on April 7, 2006. Stout’s draft comes after an earlier ordinance written by the municipal Board of Ethics was rejected by the new Assembly leadership last year. Details of the new draft are not known. The work session will take place in the Mayor’s conference room on the 8th floor of City Hall between 10-12 a.m.