Anchorage Assembly candidates: How should the city generate new revenue?

Alaska Dispatch News asked candidates for the April 4 election to the Anchorage Assembly to answer a series of questions on the issues. We're publishing their responses daily. The answers were fact-checked when facts were cited and edited for length, spelling, grammar and writing style.

Question: Should Anchorage adopt new ways of raising revenue, like a sales tax, to pay for city services? If you disagree, why? If you agree, what would you propose, and why?

District 1: Downtown

Albert Langdon Swank Jr.

Prior and current administrations have looked for greater city revenues to support expanding the city staff and budget (Begich massively). This is also true of our state government with both expanded beyond needs. An evaluation needs to be performed of city services/sizes and if appropriate, reductions need to be made. This should include comparisons to other cities of similar sizes in other states. There are also many zoning, planning and other regulatory changes that can be made to the city to increase development and expansion of the tax base of the city prior to additional taxation.

Warren West

A government has to take from someone in order to give to someone else. At the moment, the majority of the taking is from a very small group of property owners. For me, every property should pay a maximum of $360 per year with a seasonal, March 1 through Sept. 1, 5 percent consumption tax. The city, with proper planning, could provide great essential services and the excess could go to "wants" instead of "needs." No taxes should ever be increased for "wants."

Christopher Constant

I would support new revenue, but we face a tax cap that limits our ability to levy taxes. I only imagine supporting a local sales tax if any future state sales tax exempts local governments that have their own sales tax in place — better to keep revenue circulating in Anchorage than have it sent to Juneau. I anticipate we will be living in a cost-containment environment for the next few years, challenged to identify the most important priorities among competing interests. Ultimately, the best way to raise revenue is to grow our economy through the efforts of our local businesses.

Christopher Cox

Absolutely not! Ethan Berkowitz should not create more ways of creating revenue for the city. This goes back to earlier questions. The problem is not a lack of revenue. The problem is his frivolous spending. The intent of massive government. A program for every single problem. Not allowing men and women to resolve their own issues. A business makes a profit two ways, the money it brings in and the money it sends out. The government is the same way, but our money that we are sending out is three times what we are bringing in and the more money that is brought in Ethan Berkowitz will find a way to spend it.

David Dunsmore

Given the state budget situation we will need to make tough choices to afford the services we need, but a sales tax would only make things worse. It would be a massive giveaway to out-of-state landowners who would save millions on their property taxes while local residents would all have to pay more, and it would disproportionately burden middle-class families. Instead we should pursue comprehensive energy efficiency improvements to free up millions of dollars of revenue and raise the exemptions for residential property taxes to shift the burden off local homeowners.

Mark Alan Martinson

The State of Alaska or the individual regional governments need to reinstate the old Alaska school tax. It was real simple; you got your first paycheck of the year and the school tax was paid out of that check, whether you lived here or just came up to get rich over the summer or winter season. Right now Alaska is known as the place to come and get rich and then leave; let's change that a little bit. But the real estate taxes for Anchorage are high enough already and we can't keep relying on property values to rise forever.

District 2: Chugiak-Eagle River

Fred Dyson

Anchorage is in a precarious position financially. State revenue sharing is going down and will continue to do so. The state reimbursement for school bonds is going away. The Corps of Engineers spends millions per year dredging the Anchorage port and that could stop at any time particularly with the federal budget problems. I will not support any significant tax increases until our government pares back to the core functions that are in their purview. If and when we must raise taxes I will only support a sales tax which will require a charter amendment.

Gretchen Wehmhoff

We will no longer be able to rely on the same level of state revenue sharing we have enjoyed in the past. Yes, we need to adopt new, creative and effective means of collecting revenue. Hopefully, the state will adopt more of an income tax approach so local communities can utilize sales tax. A sales tax could relieve some of the tax burden on our property owners. I am interested in a sales tax to support a specific goal such as education, public safety or parks.

John Laurence Brassell 

I believe we should explore new ways to generate revenue for Anchorage, but it is not in the form of new taxes. My position is that increased taxation should always be the last resort.

Patrick Donnelly

Did not respond to questions.

District 3: West Anchorage

David Nees

The revenue raised from enterprises like AWWU and ML&P should be used to offset the revenue taken from property owners. My greatest fear is that new revenues like these do not relieve property taxes. That is just what government does: take wealth from the private economy and put it into the government economy. We don't have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. As long as the municipality can tax people more, it will spend more. I believe in both the tax cap and putting the spending cap in the municipal charter to protect it from politicians.

Tim Steele

We need to "broaden" our revenue stream. We can't just count on property tax to support the needed/wanted municipal services. We have discussed a small sales tax but have not moved it forward. We all suffer the "tax burden" and the responsible thing to do is to coordinate with what the state will ultimately do.

District 4: Midtown

Ron Alleva

I would begin with cleaning the tax rolls of unnecessary nonprofit exemptions and require religious institutions to pay for their share of police, fire and paramedics services. If they can pay private insurance companies hazard, disability insurance premiums, why not a special assessment to the municipality on services? State land trades also must be addressed, such as the airport land use to the greatest benefit of the municipality. Sales taxes need to be acted upon before the state sees Anchorage as a pot of gold with a state sales tax. I oppose all taxes until at least one-third of the $138 million lost to nonprofits, religious groups and the state is solved.

Felix Rivera

No matter our economic situation, the Municipality must provide basic services which Anchorage residents expect, like public safety, road maintenance and well-kept parks and trails. Considering the increased strain on Anchorage taxpayers, I think the Municipality will have to look at ways to relieve residential property taxes. Any taxes I would consider would center on making sure everyone who uses city services is equitably paying for these services. To that end, we should explore revenues which target non-Anchorage residents first, before looking into a local sales tax, but all options must be on the table for debate.  

Marcus Sanders

Let's face it. Revenues should be put on the table. Whether it's sales tax, sin tax or tobacco tax, it all needs to considered, but the time for action is now. The time for another committee or study is over — it's decision-making time

Don Smith

First you need to know that a sales tax cannot raise more tax revenue than the tax cap allows. If voters decided to pass a sales tax you would have to adjust the property tax to keep everything under the tax cap lid. I believe that it requires a 60 percent positive vote in order to implement a sales tax. Sixty percent approval is a very high bar that must be met. I would not oppose putting the sales tax issue on the ballot.

District 5: East Anchorage

Don Jones

Anchorage doesn't have a revenue problem; it has a spending priorities problem. The government's first responsibility is to provide safety and security for its residents. Plowing streets and reducing crime should always be prioritized before secondary goals such as building new parks and trails. As the next assemblyman for East Anchorage, I'll make the priorities clear.

Pete Petersen

We need to lower the burden on residential property taxpayers. That is why I have been a champion for raising the exemption for residential property taxes. Increasing the exemption will create a fairer tax system that doesn't unfairly burden homeowners.

District 6: South Anchorage

Albert Fogle

The current tax structure in Anchorage needs to be restructured to correct the imbalance that exists. Property owners are shouldering the burden for the cost of city government. As an assemblyman, I believe in property tax relief. The Assembly needs to reduce property taxes and honor both the tax cap and the spending cap.  It is also important to communicate with our fellow citizens so they know exactly where their tax dollars are being spent. Residents fully realize that taxes are an essential part of government. The Assembly needs to work hard to be good stewards of their money.

Suzanne LaFrance

The residents will be the ones to make that final decision with their vote. Any new revenue needs to be judged by the way it's structured. A sales tax could be structured to fall within the existing tax cap, which would lower property taxes. Some might welcome sharing the tax burden with visitors. One option is to allow most of a sales tax to go to property tax relief with a portion used for funding public safety along the dangerous Seward Highway now that trooper funding has been cut.

Tomorrow: The candidates are asked how they can improve their districts.