Community Perspective
Sales tax needed for city
Published Sunday, October 4, 2009
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Stumble It!The controversial Fairbanks sales tax issue has again made its way to the ballot this fall. It is an issue that never fails to draw extreme controversy from a vocal opposition and yet carries enough faith in its supporters to not go away.
More this year than any before, I find it fascinatingly frustrating that any of us would turn down the opportunity to fully fund our local roads, police force, paramedics, fire fighters, community service patrol and other public works and public safety programs that desperately need support.
All of this can be accomplished under the proposed plan while lowering the tax burden on city business and residential property owners by spreading out the bill to everyone who utilizes these city services.
Yes, it will be complicated.
Yes, it will initially be a headache.
Yes, the City Council will have a challenge ahead of it to take a not-necessarily perfect proposed plan and make it function for the best interests of all.
But, really, what are our alternatives? Vote the sales tax down once again and what do we have?
We will be left with familiar shortfalls in critical city departments. We will continue to place the heavy financial burden of our city, which supports nearly 100,000 people on a regular basis, on those few who choose to own property within its boundaries.
Roads that are already 10 years past their life expectancy will continue to decay. There certainly will not be extra money for all the wonderful sidewalks, bike paths, ramps, crosswalks, and pothole repairs for which we hear constant requests.
More and more, residents’ calls for a crackdown on property crimes, for drug enforcement and for investigations will go unanswered. It takes time to build these cases, and our police department simply doesn’t have the resources.
There will be no extra money to restore our downtown Community Service Patrol to its prior levels. There will be no additional funding to clean up derelict properties that are a blight to the eye and our property values.
Some people argue that growing government is not the answer and that this plan will bloat the city budget
If adding more police officers to the streets of this expanding community is growing government, I say grow it
If making our downtown sidewalks compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and plowing snow more rapidly is growing government, I say grow it.
If making sure our paramedics have more up-to-date equipment to better answer our calls for help is growing government, I say grow it.
I choose to live in a community that has the ability to equitably support its residents’ needs as well as all those who choose to frequent it, and this is why I will be supporting both sales tax propositions this coming election day.
I encourage all of you to keep an open mind and to do the same.
Emily Bratcher is a lifelong Fairbanks resident and has served on the Fairbanks City Council since October 2008.
Community Discussion
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"Yes, it will be complicated. (And) a ..."headache".
You've convinced us to vote "No". Thanks for the honesty, Emily.
Oh yeah, its also very expensive- more scarce taxpayer resources used for a new bureaucracy instead of the important things.
All these things need to be addressed by the city. You have made a good argument that the services in question are for the residents of Fairbanks. You stated that residents are asking for these things. My question is why should I pay for their services? I would like a bike ramp and the potholes on my street repaired. I have no problem paying for those things in my local service area. Fairbanks residents should do the same.
The Fairbanks City Council members who support this idea are really low. The city is trying to gobble up all the box stores and then use that monopoly to take the funds from the rest of the borough through sales taxes. That is really dirty dealing and you should be ashamed of yourselves for your lack of accountability and personal responsibility.
Very good letter Emily. I guess you are tired of serving on the council. Folks will remember this letter when your next election is due. I suggest that the city defy the state law and step up on the historic gambling issue. If Alaskaland was fixed up into a couple of unique gambling halls, and there could be show halls for various shows, it could easily surpass Dawson City as the winter/summer tourist mecca of the north!! If this were done, once again, not seen since all the bars were torn down, Fairbanks would not be whinning about money all the time. Short of that, if the roads are so bad, put up toll gates at all entrances to the city. You might see less of me then, but you would get some money.
But, really, what are our alternatives? Vote the sales tax down once again and what do we have?
You have the same thing you had before the last nine times we said NO.
As a tiny town with only 30K people what do we need with a doctor in every firetruck, and a cop on every corner? A personal lawyer for the Mayor, an Engeneering Department? the list goes on and on, how about paying your bill with the state retirement fund?? or do you think that will just go away? What we really need is to understand this is just a tiny old mining town that thinks it is L.A. I have always had to live within my means, its time our bloated government learns to do the same.
Voteing yes on a sales is a direct pay raise for the Fire and Police Departments, their Unions already run the city, they now just need more money to keep it up..
"But, really, what are our alternatives? Vote the sales tax down once again and what do we have?"
We have the same thing we currently have...a council and administration that doesn't know how to live within its means. Watch what happens in this year's election...the actions will speak loudly and clearly.
Nice letter, Emily.
I generally support the sales tax as a way to distribute the some of the responsibility for upkeep of the city from beyond just its residents to a wider population that utilizes the city. Seems fair to me.
I live in the city, but am fairly certain my landlord's not going to reduce the rent if this sales tax goes through and his property taxes are lowered. The sales tax won't benefit my personal finances, but it will benefit the city I live in. So I support it.
How about this. No property taxes in the borough or the city. Then get a sales tax. The current property taxes are out of this world. I am looking at buying a house and one of the main items I look at is can I afford the mortgage AND the sales tax. A nice house will cost me 300+ a month in sales taxes. So I say yes on a sales tax IF they dump property taxes.
If a sales tax is initiated, it will only grow and become more of a burden. The MatSu Boro also has a 3% sales tax on their upcoming ballot -- that tax is *in addition* to the city sales taxes already existing in Houston, Palmer and Wasilla -- so shoppers in those cities will pay up to 5, 6, and 5.5 percent.
You can read the story here: http://frontiersman.com/articles/2009/10...
Don't let sales tax creep into Fairbanks. Vote NO again!
Emily Bratcher: How many times do the voters have to tell you and the other day-dreamers that the "Sales Tax" idea is a loser?
Maybe if neighborhoods in Fairbanks want to fix up there "local" street, they should form a service district like borough folks do .. instead of trying to get the other side of town to pay for their fancy sidewalk and all those other "valuable" priviledges.
Eliminating property taxes and forcing "outsiders" to pay for the easy life luxuries of the priviledged few smells like greed.
But what I really want to know is, who do you think is going to get the big break? Could it be that you are a champion for the Big Box Stores and Corporations that would be the real winners .. no property taxes and get paid for collection of extra money from shoppers, too.
Vote "NO" on the sales tax .. and then lets get busy getting rid of the politicians that keep bring up the sales tax idea.
NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,..NEVER. Maybe it is spanking time for some spoil brats?
All a sales tax will do is create more government jobs, tax collectors.
Community Perspectives?
" My wife and I are wondering what happen to city councilman Jerry Cleworth community perspective online today"?
How did she get on the city council? I listened to a lot of city council meetings. She seems like she struggles with some of the most basic issues.
If the idea is to improve roads, then put out a bond package that identifies the specifics. Who really believes that a money raised from a sales tax would be wisely used for road projects?
What a bunch of lies: made up to support the 9th or 10th attempt to inflict a City Sale Tax on all the residents of this Borough! This
is nothing but TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION for all the residents of this Borough who do not live in the city. For the 9th or 10th time the city voters must vote no to this sales tax!
Community Perspectives
We found councilman Jerry Cleworths opinion against the sales tax he makes good sense and cents why the citizens of Fairbanks should vote NO once again.
Because Jerry Cleworth is one of the very, very few councilmembers that HAS A BRAIN!!!
Let's see. Its a tax to maintain the roads that allow us to access our PROPERTY and pay for the police who protect our PROPERTY.
To me, it's obvious what the only fair way to pay for such services is. Hint: it ain't a sales tax.
Cleworth only cares about his low profit margin business, don't be fooled into thinking he is looking for anyones best interests but his own.
Vote YES. Good for city residents, good for services. City residents will save money.
Do you realize that we have managed to survive all these years without this sales tax,..why would we want it now.
If we did have it, you would just want more to fund some program that we can do without.
Emily Bratcher
It would ALMOST be worth moving into town for a year just to be able to vote YOU and your LIKE-MINDED CRONIES out of office when you come up for re-election!
NO to a city sales tax!
We need to be talking about eliminating taxes, not adding more.
Get competely rid of property taxes on the property of private citizens--otherwise it's not really private property, as the borough/city owns it (if you don't believe me, don't pay property taxes for a couple of years and you'll find out who owns it--and it ain't you!).
Get rid of the bloated bureaucracy in both the city and borough, go back to a zero-based budget, and let's determine what level of involuntary contributions are actually necessary. It probably is much less than we think, and everybody in the entire borough will benefit--rather than putting more money into the current bag with holes in it.
NO ON NEW TAXES!!!!
So property taxes go down and then what monies do we get from Wal Mart? None. They certainly don't BUY anything from Fairbanks.
"NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,..NEVER. Maybe it is spanking time for some spoiled brats?"
Out in the Cold, didn't you hear the report that spanking lowers IQ? Guess they have already been spanked?
Speek for your self EMILY BRATCHER
and pay all that tax for us.
Well we know who not to vote for next time the city Council comes up for election or any other political arena that she may run for.
Georganne Hampton: "..the report that spanking lowers IQ? Guess they have already been spanked?"
I don't know about 'spanking' lowering the IQ, .. but it sure improves the attention span after the sobbing stops. And with "ten times NO!" somebody isn't paying attention. The "NO" answer just don't seem to be soaking in to some thick skulls.
If anyone wants to see the TV ads running about the sales tax here are two of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms6wGgE5T...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gAu1XLmS...
Another study gone stupid. Spanking doesn't lower IQ's, people with lower IQ's get spanked more. Smart people learn faster. Guess some members of our council could do with some more "spankin'"
"lowering the tax burden on city business and residential property owners by spreading out the bill to everyone who utilizes these city services."
Same old line of cow dung. I dont live in the city, I dont get to enjoy 24/7 sidewalks streetlights traffic signals city police, fire water and sewer. But the people that do dont want to pay for it. They think that the rest of us should help pay their way. They try to justify it by saying that when we come into town were are enjoying the city services. Most folks shop outside the city limit already. And since 70% of all in city jobs are held by folks that live outside the city, I think we are doing more then our fair share to compensate for all the city service we use.
So, lets see, I should pay my property tax, and, help people living in a modern city with modern convienances pay theirs so they can stay and enjoy it all. Typical Liberal mind think "whats mine is mine, whats yours is mine"
Quit begging you leaches. If you dont like city property tax, MOVE OUT OF THE CITY. If you want a free handout, get a piece of cardboard, write on it "homeless God Bless" and stand out at the intersection in front of the box stores. Then you can live off of others properly.
The absolute nerve of some peoples offspring......
Well tomorrows the day. We will see if you let the chamber of commerce pulls the wool over your eyes.........AGAIN!!
Why do these idiots keep trying to pass something that has been voted down how many times?
No reasonable city property owner would vote against the sales tax.
If you can save about $1500 per year on property tax and replace it with about $300 a year in sales tax... I can think of about 1200 reasons to vote yes.
It will cost non city residents if they choose to shop in our city...cool. I guess they could start up their own town and shop there if the 3% is too much.
If I lived outside the city I wouldn't like it either. The wild card is renters inside the city. I hope they stay home and watch T.V. on Tuesday....
candidate
My wife and I have talked with all the city candidates.If we could vote in the city,Vivian Stiver and Frank Turney would be our choice and NO on Sales Taxes.
No new Taxes!!!!! AND get rid of more of the old ones!!!
Put those greedy politicians on a money diet!!! The sooner the better!
How many times do we have to tell you people? Really?
Emily,
Those of us that don't live in the city will still have to pay our full property taxes, while those that live in-city will have reductions thereof. No fair!
I have no options to shop anywhere w/o paying sales tax with the sole exception of Fred's West. And their annexation is up for grabs again as well.
SO, NOOOOO I will not vote yes on the sales tax!
Make it fair across the board and I will consider a yes vote.
Services in the city are already supported by those who live outside the city. Over a third of my borough property taxes go to Fairbanks. How much more support do you need?
What needs to happen, and I know this is hard- especially for politicians... We need to budget. Not in political-speak, but in actual practice. I have to do it for my home, as do my neighbors and most intelligent responsible people I know. You know how much you have, and you manage what you have to take care of your needs. If there's some left over, you congratulate yourself and put it away for when times are hard.
So, elected public servants: Get a grip! Manage your resources. Don't come sniffing around insisting you want more. If you haven't been paying attention, most of us don't have more to give! Either manage what you have, setting aside all your little pet crap projects, or we'll gladly put someone in your office who can!
Well, here's the rub: why should people pay for services they don't use? I'm sorry for your financial woes but we're all having a hard time these days. I don't need to pay your tax burden on top of mine.
If the sales tax goes through my spouse and I both agree the city of Fairbanks won't be seeing much of our cash.
Vote NO on the sales tax.
no on tax
I don't support the sales tax proposal in its current language, but I wanted to add voice to the remarks re. Mr. Cleworth.
Rarely have I encountered such a genuinely kind and thoughtful person in the realm of political discourse as Mr. Cleworth. Open-mindedness without gullibility, thoughtful to others needs and concerns, and one who seems to truly wrestle with the issues of the day. Sincerity and even-handedness.
Thank you for your service to Fairbanks, Mr. Cleworth!
The added 4% should cover most of the shipping costs for all the items that I will no longer purchase within the city if this goes through. Thanks to Amazon, Ebay and the likes it is no longer necessary to be extorted by local high prices.
Fairbanks is an interesting place. It is full of anti-government "Alaskans" that support three, independent, governments within the FNSB boundries. The City of Fairbanks, the City of North Pole, and the FNSB all collect taxes on the same area that is considered "Fairbanks." When unification issues arise, the issue is summarily discharged because people want to have their own government entity that they so despise once it is time to fund that very entity through taxes.
Get a grip people. Become a Municipality like most every other real City in Alaska and quit with the fractured structure of three local governments to run an area of less than 100,000 people. You are starting to become the Matsu Valley...and that is meant as an insult.
And, YukonJohn (and every other 'rural' resident that opines on this blog), you don't live in a town that has taxes...you pay no taxes...your electric is subsidized by the State of Alaska, and you get a PFD every year. I don't care whay you pay for a gallon of gas. You choose to live in the middle of nowhere with no economic base - why should you get things so cheap? So your opinion on taxes is worthless because you provide nothing to any government or service in Alaska - although you freely take from them.
Fairbanksgas
Brilliant idea! Do all of your shopping thru the internet. Don't spend your money at businesses in the community in which you live!
Sarcassim intended!!!!!!!!!!
Cap the salaries of the firemen and the cops first. Eliminate the property tax, next. Trim out the fat (handouts to nonprofits) from the budget and then we can begin talking of sales tax.
Not only no,...but I think it is time to reduce city taxes.
Mferinak said: "Eliminate the property tax."
tugboat said: "Reduce city taxes."
So where in your brilliant minds do you propose we come up with the money to support the city infrastructure and fund the necessary and fundamental city services that are required? Are you banking on a "stimulus package" from Obama or you hoping the state of Alaska will bail us out?
The city has been working for all these years without a tax, what has changed that we would need this tax. Now don't be envious of the folks who live up on the hill, because I am not, what the Jones' have is no concern of mine, and if they don't want the citie's burden, then they have the right not to have it. I live in the city, by the way.
This "tax" is more than any tax, it also changes "spending"...
It removes the cap in the amount our city can spend, the caps are there to prevent overspending. The whole point of a sales tax SHOULD be to lower property taxes, but if it just increases spending it won't help reduce the cost of being in Fairbanks.
Tugboat- You really think "the city has been working for years". Come on! I like the sales tax idea because it brings the prospect of a larger police force that has the ability to effectivly work the jobs they need to do. Also brings better roads and more fire service resources.
The city has all these people coming in to use it's streets and people should pay for it, all people not just the city property owners.
I really would love to see a seasonal sales tax. All the folks that come up here to buy there trickets could give us their expendable dollars then get on a plane and go home. We have to do it when we travel out of state why should they get a free pass?
Amybe it's the new American ideal we want it but we aren't gonna pay for it.
The tax cap isn't going away. Sure, it will see a one time adjustment upward, but then it's right back in place at the new higher budget level.
If the sales tax doesn't bring in the amount they expect, then yes, there will still be some property taxes to pay. The sales tax will lower the overall amount of property taxes residents have to pay, and City residents will still save money, it just won't be as much as they'd save if the sales tax was completely replacing property taxes.
But neither the sales tax nor property taxes can be increased (without a vote of City residents) because the TAX CAP will still be in place.
The tax cap only allows the City budget to increase from year to year by the amount of the Anchorage Consumer Price Index (CPI).
I support the sales tax and have spent several days out going door-to-door passing out fliers that give the real facts, but once again, I don't believe there was enough accurate information put out there for most voters to make a reasonably informed decision.
The ITA was up to their normal tricks, namely only providing the information they want you to know. They ALWAYS leave out the whole truth of the matter because they want to manipulate the entire process.
For those of you that love Jerry Cleworth, well, I've watched him do EXACTLY the same thing the ITA does for as long as he's been on the City Council. Jerry might be a nice guy, but he's not beyond telling half truths in order to ensure people agree with or side with him.
adifferentview - I have a neighbor that installed a camera system on his house pointed towards the ally and the street. I was thinking of doing the same. If volunteers in this city would do this, then catching a crime in progress or shortly after could be a real possibility, therefore this would eventually be concidered a deterrent for crime where ever a camera is possitioned. More cameras - less crime. The beauty of this approach is that each citizen would be responsible for the cost and maintenance of his own equipment. IT would save the city money and help the police force with tips on crimes.
This sorta sounds like the Date Rapist that just can't comprehend what "No" means. Sounds like a good House Cleaning is in order both in Fairbanks and Washington.
Property taxes pay for city projects, right now the resources are strained, a sales tax could lower the need for Fairbanks property owners to pay as much....unless....we raise spending to match the new funds, then, we end up in the same financial situation we are in now with no option to institute a sales tax later (although we could make it bigger)
I agree that Fairbanks does need a sales tax, but in a city full of people that can read the fine print we need a GOOD sales tax.
Ok, I got my popcorn out and ready. More show please!
I think they better think things through, and propose a better solution. Seasonal tax at worst maybe? Have these tourists come and help pay for the services a little bit? Just a thought, not a plan.
You and your tax loving ilk lost again for the umpteenth time. Get over it and on with reality you liberal dreamweaver....
City voters need do quit putting union backed council candidates in office.
Because they are there to take care of the union contracts and not fix the roads!
If City voters want the roads fixed elect people of who will spend their tax dollars on street repair.
Right now about 200 city workers divvy up 26 million dollars in wages and benefits. Which figures out to be about $130,000 each. Making the 10 year cost per employee is $1.3 million.
How may of you pro tax posters expect to make $1 1/3 million in the next 10 years?
"Yes, city public employee union members do live better because they live off of US!
I agree that we need taxes to protect our citizens, fix our roads, pay for our schools, etc. But EVERYONE needs to pay their fair share. So I don't live in the city, I would not get MY property taxes lowered, but would also have to pay sales tax on top of it, while those who live/own property in the city would get a break or have no property taxes, hmmm, that doesn't seem right.
Voting on a sales tax that has previously been voted down numerous times, is like the mom who keeps telling her kid "I'm gonna count to three...one, two, two and 1/2, two and a 1/4..." you get the idea.
And having a "choice" to shop in the city, hmmm, where would my other "choices" be? North Pole? Ok, they have sales tax, no biggie. Ummmm, where else besides Fairbanks and North Pole that have the goods and services that we need? Wasilla, Anchorage? well, I don't think it would be very time and cost effective to shop in those other "choice" places. So really, do we have any other "choice" to shop elsewhere? Actually, the internet idea IS a good one, I have found myself doing more often as a matter of fact. As long as you don't have an address in North Pole for mailing, you don't have to pay sales tax.
I disagree with ADifferentView, so are you saying if you came to my house, which is not in city limits, (and we pay our service area maintenance fees also), you would be willing to help ME pay my taxes for YOU using MY roads? Just like you said when people go to town using their roads they should pay for using them? "All people, not just the city property owners" should be paying for use of the city roads, well then you all can help me pay for the extra fees I pay to maintain my roads in my neighborhood.
If I ran my household like local/federal government ran their "household", I would either be bankrupt or in jail, or homeless. I am pretty sure the people "in charge" don't run their households the way they do the cities' and states' they are in charge of.
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