The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly enacted an ordinance which amended borough code removing requirements for newspaper publication of delinquent sales tax lists and public posting of certificates of registration lists and providing instead for publication of such information on the borough’s website.
The borough code that requires posting in a newspaper of general circulation for all sellers who have not filed sales tax returns, have not paid all balances due, or owe taxes, penalties, and interest pursuant to a payment agreement has, according to KPB Finance Director Brandi Harbaugh, become increasingly expensive.
Harbaugh told the Borough Assembly:
“We get more impact from working the publication, meaning that when we first generated internally, sometimes we’d see maybe 20 pages. We’d call everybody on the list and contact them in one way or another of which then we narrow down. We did public the most recent one on the website and it’s seven pages. That’s our most effective part of the publication is us reaching out and speaking with everyone.”
KPB 5.18.330 requires posting in a public place in the Borough Administration Building a quarterly list of holders of sales tax certificates of registration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, citizen visits to the Borough Administration Building in Soldotna significantly dropped, which, according to Harbaugh, underscored the need to change the requirement to post on an electronic bulletin board instead (i.e., the Borough’s website). Additionally, this makes the information readily available to the many citizens of the borough who don’t regularly visit the Borough Administration Building.
Harbaugh also adds that local newspapers are moving to digital distribution themselves, even as the current definition in KPB code, requires the use of a newspaper printed on paper. She says that repealing the provision requiring printing in a newspaper and requiring posting on the Borough website will save approximately $2,480 per year.
