Sitkans may see a credit on their utility accounts soon, thanks to a sales tax surplus. When the Sitka assembly met last night (10-24-23), it approved a one-time $300 residential utility subsidy on first reading. But not all assembly members were certain that a one-time payout was the right path forward.
In 2023, Sitka saw another record-breaking tourist season– that, plus some careful budgeting by city staff, meant surplus sales tax returns for the second year in a row. More than $4 million of that money was deposited in the public infrastructure sinking fund in September, to go toward repairing and replacing aging city infrastructure in the future. But at the assembly meeting on October 24, several said they wanted to put $1 Million back in the pockets of Sitkans through a utility account credit.
Assembly member Chris Ystad, who co-sponsored the ordinance with Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz and assembly member Kevin Mosher, said that while the city has benefited from the uptick in tourism, there have also been challenges.
“We can fully fund schools, we’re putting money into infrastructure, you know, but a lot of these benefits are something that we don’t see immediately, or that aren’t really tangible,” he said. “And I really wanted to do something that was immediate, [a] benefit that was tangible.”
While most assembly members agreed that they wanted to use some of the city’s sales tax surplus to improve affordability for Sitkans, a few still had some questions about whether a one-time utility payout was the best route. Assembly member JJ Carlson said she could certainly see the benefits.
“There’s a lot of potential to help people this month or this year,” Carlson said. “I just got my utility bill in the mail and it was $310. So if I don’t put up holiday lights, that’ll cover my whole month of December, and I can use that $300 to buy some protein.”
Carlson said she’d vote yes on first reading, but still had questions. Assembly member Thor Christianson said he’d rather see a more targeted approach with the money.
“$300 would be nice for me. But that’s it,” Christianson said. “But there’s a lot of people who really need help.” He said he would rather see the city’s current utility subsidization fund expanded and the threshold increased for Sitkans who qualify so, “the people who really need it would get it.”
Assembly member Tim Pike said he could support a one-time subsidy this year. But he said he wants to find a path for future surpluses that pays dividends long term.
“I do agree that in the short term, this is a way to go forward,” he said. “But I do want to see some ideas about…how we do this so that it’s a long-term thing that has long-term impact on people in the world, because affordability in Sitka is a big thing, and we want to make sure that we approach that in a sustainable way.”
Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said he didn’t disagree with looking at a long-term plan for future surpluses in addition to the public infrastructure sinking fund, but with this round of funds he was focused on doing something that could have an immediate effect.
“There was an email today [we] received that says we should pay off a million dollars of our Blue Lake bond debt. I don’t disagree with that either. That’s going to help my kid, because he’ll be paying for that Blue Lake Dam debt, undoubtedly. But this was just the way to get an immediate effect on to our citizens,” Eisenbeisz said.
“Whether you benefited or you were negatively impacted by tourism, everybody had some sort of impact this summer. I don’t think there’s a single person in town that can say they didn’t have an impact as a result of this,” he added. “So this is just a little bit that we can do with some of the extra money that we brought in.”
The subsidy ordinance passed 6-1 on first reading with Thor Christianson opposed. It will come before the assembly for a final vote at its next regular meeting in November.
