A new Anchorage law aimed at increasing the city's pool of taxis will be subject to a repeal vote in April, with signatures for a referendum approved in a late-night effort by the city clerk's office to avoid an expensive special election.
The unexpected announcement of a referendum by the city clerk's office came Tuesday after a feverish review of signatures at the end of last week.
The ordinance targeted by the referendum, introduced by Assembly member Bill Evans and passed 8-3 by the Anchorage Assembly in December, is now suspended. City purchasing officers have canceled a March 2 auction where 20 new taxi permits were set to be sold to qualified bidders.
In all, more than 100 new taxi permits were to be issued over the next five years under the ordinance. After that, barring a study showing too many cabs in service, the permit cap would be lifted and any qualified person could get one for a fee.
Evans' ordinance stood to upend Anchorage's long-standing and stable taxi market. The law sparked strong pushback from current taxi owners who said they stood to lose money they invested in their permits.
Burim Limani, a member of the Anchorage Taxicab Permit Owners Association, said he and other opponents of the ordinance felt their concerns were ignored, prompting the repeal effort.
"We can't survive the way the system is, with the overhead expenses that we have," said Limani, who owns a permit and also drives a cab.
Limani suggested the quality of cab service and of the people driving the cabs would be a cornerstone in the campaign to repeal the changes — messaging that's been successful for the taxi industry in past political fights.
Evans said in a Tuesday interview he wasn't surprised the referendum made it to the ballot.
"I think people can determine whether they want to go forward with the plan to add more taxis or not," Evans said.
His ordinance did not directly authorize ride-booking companies like Uber and Lyft to operate in Anchorage, though Evans has since introduced legislation directly aimed at regulating such companies locally. Evans has described the permit measure as a way to encourage innovation within the existing cab industry.
The measure drew emotional, divided testimony over two straight Assembly meetings in December. After the Assembly approved it, taxi permit owners quickly mobilized, filing the referendum petition just days later. The petition passed a legal review on Jan. 9, clearing sponsors to start gathering the more than 5,700 necessary voter signatures.
About 1 p.m. Friday, the signatures came in, said deputy city clerk Amanda Moser. It was about three weeks past the official deadline.
But Moser said she was aware the signatures may be coming. She was also determined to avoid a special election, which would have been automatically triggered by city election laws — and cost taxpayers about $400,000.
Working with the city's Homer-based ballot printer, Moser planned for two versions of the election ballot, one with the taxi referendum, the other without, and waited.
When the signatures arrived, feverish activity broke out. Up to a dozen city employees — clerks, ombudsman's staff and an attorney — worked late into the night Friday to certify the signatures.
Moser said the review turned into a competition, with points awarded for every legible signature that was deemed to belong to a qualified Anchorage voter. A big board in the office held the scores, Moser said.
One clerk, Amy Solberg, reviewed nearly 1,000 signatures on her own, Moser said.
When the work finished about 10 p.m., the referendum barely beat production and public notice deadlines for the April 4 election, Moser said.
Usually, signatures take about four full days to review, Moser said.
"It was a crazy night in the clerk's office," she said.
The signatures were also turned in just in time to require the suspension of the ordinance, city attorney Bill Falsey wrote in an email.
On Tuesday afternoon, a couple showed up in the purchasing office at Anchorage City Hall to submit a bid packet for a taxi permit. They were told instead that the auction had been suspended indefinitely, said Ron Hadden, city purchasing officer.
Hadden said his office had received a couple of other packets, but had expected the bulk to come in the day of the auction.
Whether a new date will be picked for the auction depends on the election outcome, said city transportation inspector Eric Musser.