Matanuska Susitana Borough Assemblyman Steve Colligan wants an area-wide alcohol tax to help fund Borough expenses.
Earlier this month, the Borough Assembly passed an ordinance sponsored by Colligan which will give Borough voters a chance to weigh in on the proposal during Borough elections in October.
“We only have one source of revenue, and that’s a property tax base, and I thought it would be worthwhile to put to the voters to decide whether the property tax owners should continue to bear that burden,” Colligan said. “In addition, the Mat-Su Health Foundation has done some extensive surveys and that in particular, alcohol and alcohol abuse and the like, are the number one item of concern with the community, and I thought it was worth putting forward to the voters to make a decision.”
Colligan says at the present time, real property taxes fund all the Borough’s operating expenses.
The Mat-Su Health Foundation supports the proposed alcohol tax because of the high cost of dealing with alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse in the Mat-Su communities.
MSHF executive director Elizabeth Ripley says that excessive use of alcohol contributes to a wide range of health and social injuries.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
