During a special meeting, the Assembly unanimously passed – on first reading – an ordinance that would ask voters if the city should raise the cap on property taxes to 8 mills. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
Last night (08-02-16), the Sitka Assembly got one step closer to putting a property tax question on the October ballot.
During a special meeting, the Assembly unanimously passed – on first reading – an ordinance that would ask voters if the city should raise the cap on property taxes to 8 mills. That’s eight-tenths of a percent, or $8 for every $1000 your home is worth.
For the past twenty years, the cap has been set at 6 mills. To change that would take a vote from the public, so the Assembly is looking to include this question on the October 4th ballot.
If the property tax is approved, the Assembly also wants to offer a tax break to Sitkans. Deputy Mayor Matt Hunter explained, “There’s discussion at the Assembly table of bringing forth an ordinance that says ‘contingent on the passage of the mill rate increase’ or ‘upon the approval of the voters of the mill rate increase,’ a sales tax exemption on groceries will come into effect or a guarantee [of subsidizing] the electric fund will come into effect.”
Essentially, if voters pass the ballot question, the Assembly will either eliminate the sales tax on groceries or subsidize the electric fund to stabilize rates. If the fund is not subsidized, rates may increase by as much as 19% next year. Of those two ordinances, the first is being sponsored by Assemblymen Tristan Guevin and Bob Potrzuski and the second by Assemblymen Steven Eisenbeisz and Aaron Swanson.
The concept of combining a mill raise with a tax break came from the Citizens’ Task Force, as an attempt to both generate revenue for the city while reducing the cost of living. Guevin, the Assembly liaison to the Citizens’ Task Force, said, “I think we’re moving in that direction towards more sustainable and more equitable revenues and fees and taxes for our city so I’m excited to see this go forward.”
At their July 12th meeting, the Assembly decided to include the grocery sales tax repeal, among other policies, into the ballot question directly. But at the last Assembly meeting on July 26th, city staff discovered that violated the rules of ballot language. Each ballot question needs to be on a single subject.
The property tax ordinance will have a second reading at the Assembly’s regular meeting on Tuesday, August 9th at 6 p.m. at UAS.
