At noon Tuesday, some of the nine candidates up for election to Soldotna’s potential Home Rule Charter Commission addressed a small group of attendees.
Linda Hutchings led the citizen’s initiative earlier this year that put the question “Shall a Charter Commission be Elected to Prepare a Proposed Charter?” on a special election ballot. She began Tuesday’s lunch by making a presentation on why she believes Soldotna should be home ruled.
Hutchings: “I think the tax issue is diversification. It shouldn’t all be property taxes, it should be spread out and sales tax is the most equitable tax because it affects everybody that comes into your community and uses your services.”
Hutchings says Soldotna becoming a Home Ruled city is essential to keep taxes from increasing substantially.
Other candidates like Scott Davis and Penny Vadla also helped spur discussion about becoming home rule and there was no one in attendance who opposed the idea.
The city lost some revenue after Kenai Peninsula Borough residents voted last October that all cities within the borough should only collect a sales tax on groceries three months out of the year.
At Tuesday’s lunch, Hutchings also provided a comparison of what families who own homes and pay taxes on groceries potentially pay in taxes now versus an estimate what they might pay if Soldotna raises the mill rate.
Hutchings: “So what I did is I took $100 a week for groceries, not for other incidentals like make-up or laundry soap or whatever but just groceries, so if you spend $100 a week for groceries you would have been paying the City of Soldotna $3. So $3 times 52 weeks comes to $156. On a $200,000 home with the current mill rate of .5, is $100, so this is what a family that’s buying $100 worth of groceries a [week] and lives in a $200,000 home is paying, $256 [per year].
With the proposed rate increase of 2.0 mills, you’re going to be looking at $400, so right away you’re going to be paying more, you’re going to be paying $144 more than you did when we had sales tax.
But this is the scary part: You look at Fred Meyer which has a value of $16.9 million. At the old tax rate, they were paying $8,465 to the City of Soldotna in property taxes. With the new proposed tax rate it’s $33,000, that’s $25,000 that’s going to be put right back on our food. It’s the same thing that happens in any business, whether it’s a restaurant, whether it’s a doctor’s office, whether it’s a seafood store, they all are going to be hit with a higher tax rate.”
Absentee voting is open now for the upcoming special election through the Soldotna City Hall and residents can vote there, in person from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm on May 10.