Water / Sewer Bond Vote By Rodney Dial September 15, 2014
1. The City has been running ads claiming that if the bonds are approved water and sewer rates will rise by as much as $5.10 extra a month for water and $6.00 sewer. This of course assumes no unforeseen problems or cost overruns. The City is spending $20,000 (10k water/10k wastewater) to convince you to approve these bonds. As I have pointed out in previous letters, City Manager Amylon told the City Council just a few months ago he has $9.7 million EXTRA in the budget for a new or renovated 2nd Museum. The City has already started funneling money to the 2nd museum project, which has received little, if any mention in the paper. They are keeping renovation quite because City Manager Amylon wants the public to think the City is broke and needs additional tax and utility rate increases. The following are excerpts from the City Council meeting on August 21st; you can read the full meeting minutes for yourself at http://www.city.ketchikan.ak.us/mayor/documents/140821min.pdf Ongoing work on museum #2 currently taking place without voter approval Centennial Building Electrical Upgrades and Roof Replacement Manager Amylon reviewed the process toward award of the electrical upgrades and roof Replacement at the Centennial Building. He outlined reasons and actions taken by the Council to date, noting the Advisory Board is close to finalizing a mission statement and set of core values. He informed once this work is completed, the Advisory Board’s recommendations will be forwarded to the Council for formal consideration and approval. He noted after this process is complete, he intended to direct Museum Director Simpson to begin working with the Advisory Board on addressing the future capital needs of both the Centennial Building and the Totem Heritage Center. Discussion that the City is depleting reserves to pay for advertising to convince city voters to approve additional debt. Notice how Amylon is essentially warning the City Council that this depletion will cause future problems (code for additional future utility rate or tax hikes) Wastewater Services Reserve Fund Manager Amylon informed with the transfer that was made tonight for the education Discussion regarding the massive debt the city already has. They know this is a big time problem for the community and want to know how high they can raise taxes. General Government and KPU Long-Term Debt Manager Amylon transmitted a memorandum from Finance Director Newell responding to a request from Councilmember Harris that detailed the City’s total long-term debt. In response to Councilmember Coose, Finance Director Newell indicated the City of Ketchikan doesn’t have a debt capacity ceiling so we have to fall back on state statute. He said the only one he was aware of because of the City’s home rule status is that we can’t have a property tax rate in excess of 30 mills. He pointed out it boils down to what the community is willing to pay for. He reminded that was relative to general obligation bonds, but revenue bonds were the flip side of the coin. He said revenue bonds were a little bit different and what puts the debt cap on revenue bonds is the debt service coverage, which means satisfying the debt service through rates. He commented generally speaking the coverage is 1.25 times annual debt service. Consider for a moment how your standard of living has been decreasing steadily for the last several years. Two years of property tax increases and a sales tax increase, numerous water and sewer rate increases, property assessment increases, new fees such as now having to pay for Ketchikan side airport parking, etc., have increased the costs of the average Ketchikan family by over $1000 per year. Keep in mind that you as a consumer pay 100% of the taxes levied on the businesses in Ketchikan. When taxes rise at Walmart or Safeway those costs are passed on to you. Food costs have increased by two times the rate of inflation in Ketchikan over the last three years. For the person who makes $100 per day after taxes and deductions are taken out, the last three years of local tax increases equals two additional weeks of work the average Ketchikan citizen is giving the local government just to pay their taxes. Unfortunately it doesn’t end there, Mayor Williams indicated in a City meeting earlier this year that he also wants an electrical rate increase next year and the city still has not determined if another water purification plant or filtration plant is needed to bring our water quality in line with federal standards. A new water plant could easily add $50 or more a month to your utility bill. Folks, if you don’t speak up you will see your combined utility bill easily top $400 a month or more in the coming years. Even if the City didn’t use the extra tax money they have slated to renovate/build our 2nd museum for the water/sewer project, KPU still has extra funds that could be used for this project. Currently, the City directs KPU to GIVE AWAY nearly $400,000 per year in grants to various agencies/groups. Bonding on a $10 million dollar project at current municipal bond rates for a 30 year term ranges from about $30-45k per month. With Just what the KPU gives away each year would likely cover the bond payments on this project. As I have said in my previous letters the citizens are being manipulated in a big game. You are only asked to vote for projects they expect you to approve and everything else they will raise taxes for and do without your approval. Sadly the average voter is not as involved or informed as they should be and the City will probably convince enough that the sky will fall if these bonds are not passed. Politicians count on the public to have limited attention spans and short memories. Our local leaders, who have already made Ketchikan too expensive for our children, say they need you to add millions in debt for water/sewer work. All the while they have millions for our 2nd museums, $400k to give away yearly, hundreds of thousands for unnecessary building projects such as the Fire Station display Case, even $100k to spend on a Rain Gauge! Ketchikan voters I promise you this: If you defeat the bonds the City will still find a way to do the project with existing revenue. They may have to reassess priorities with other projects and postpone some things like “Rain Gauges”, but they should be doing that anyway. Your call City voters. Rodney Dial
Received September 12, 2014 - Published September 15, 2014
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