FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Marijuana Tax Goes To Voters on Oct. 4

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

The Assembly voted final approval Tuesday night on an ordinance to place a marijuana sales tax question on the October 4 city election ballot.

The vote was 5-0, with Kevin Knox, Kevin Mosher, Rebecca Himschoot, Thor Christianson and Dave Miller present and voting. Mayor Steve Eisenbeisz and Crystal Duncan were absent.

The proposition on the ballot will be to exempt marijuana sales from the regular city sales tax, and replace it with a 6 percent sales tax dedicated to extracurricular student activities and related travel.

If approved by the voters, the tax would go into effect January 1, 2023. The measure calls for the tax to increase to 8 percent in 2024 and later years. The expected revenue is $210,000 the first year, and $280,000 when the tax is 8 percent.

The question voters will be asked is:

“Shall the Sitka General Code be amended, effective January 1, 2023, by exempting marijuana and marijuana products from the general levy of sales tax and adding a specific levy of sales tax, 6% the first year and 8% the second year and each subsequent year, for marijuana and marijuana products sold in the municipality, and placing the tax revenues in a dedicated municipal fund for the Sitka School District for extracurricular student activities and associated travel costs? Yes or No.”

Co-sponsors Himschoot, Mosher and Knox cited the high cost to families, “up to several hundred if not thousands of dollars in registration, uniform, travel costs and other fees,” to have their children participate in high school sports and other activities.

If the ballot question passes, marijuana would be exempt from the regular city sales tax, with an estimated reduction to the general fund of $195,000.

The issue has been before the Assembly multiple times starting in May so there wasn’t much discussion Tuesday before the 5-0 vote.

Some members clarified that the Tuesday vote wasn’t to implement the tax but to place it on the ballot for the voters to decide. Another commented that the new marijuana tax would replace the sales tax, not be in addition to the regular city sales tax, for marijuana sales.

“I’m totally in favor of seeing this on the October ballot myself and if it passes tonight, looking forward to continuing the dialog with the community and seeing how it fares,” Knox said.

 

City Union Contract

The Assembly voted 5-0 to approve three-year contracts with two unions representing workers in the fire and electric departments.

The city’s labor negotiator, Kimberly Geariety, outlined the provisions of the contracts with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1547, and the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 5168.

IBEW local 1547 ratified the agreement in June. Starting July 1, it calls for:

– no pay increase, but a $4 per hour pay reduction for the general foreman, line foreman and journeymen lineman, which will be used to fund in part the employer contribution to a state electrical pension fund.

– 4.5 percent increase to other employees, with a reduced cost-of-living adjustment to fund in part the employer contribution to the same pension.

– a $1 hourly rate increase this year and another $1 next year.

Pay was increased last July but the parties agreed the higher wages did not attract the number of candidates (especially journeyman linemen) that were expected.

“The addition of the Alaska Electrical Pension Fund was for the purpose of providing a different compensation package for recruiting and retaining employees at the Electric Department, especially Journeyman Lineman in Alaska,” the memo in the Assembly packet said. “Second, the package is designed so that the employees share the cost indirectly by taking less in hourly wages to fund the contribution to the Alaska Electrical Pension Fund.”

“What we discovered or have decided to try and do is a little different formula,” Geariety told the Assembly. “This was negotiated in the contract where the union actually gave back wages and in exchange for those wages there will be a contribution to the IBEW pension plan. ... we felt really good about the package and the fact that the union is willing to work with us and have some skin in the game”

The year to year increase to the city budget is 7.1 percent the first year, 5.3 percent the second and 3.1 percent the third. The total increase over three years is $1,143,686.

Geariety and city staff said the contract fell within the budget parameters for the 2023 electrical fund budget.

 

Firefighters

The firefighters union contract expired December 31. With negotiations delayed by the pandemic, the contract was extended through June 30.

“The other issue that we dealt a lot with was retention – and not so much retention to keep people there – but to incentivize to grow in their job,” Geariety said. “We’re really talking about firefighter/EMT classification.”

The fire department has positions for EMT I, II and III.

“Right now we have just one III which then is given a lot of authority to do a lot of the work,” Geariety said. “The II has less, and we have several I’s.”

“What we really would like to see as a management tool would be to have everybody at an EMT III,” she said. “That would give them full flexibility of operation to provide all the needed medical services that Sitka needs on the calls that they have, and not have it limited to one or two people who can do the work. ...  We really want to incentivize the firefighters to grow in their jobs and also then encourage them. So what we looked at was, how can we do that?”

The contract calls for an education incentive to get additional certifications in one-time lump sum payments of $1,250 to employees at EMT II or EMT III as of July 1, and the same amount for those who reach those levels during the three-year contract.

The contract is expected to cost $367,921 over three years. Although there are a few unknowns, city staff said the firefighters contract is not likely to go over the budget allotted for the department in FY 2023.

Average pay is increasing by 8.4 percent starting July 1, with between 1.5 and 3.5 percent increases in year 2 and 3.

Also in the contract is a contribution to the medical savings account for retirees, which Geariety said is an attempt to “enhance that Tier IV benefit that the state of Alaska has.”

“We said we will contribute, but only if there’s skin in the game by the employees, and the employees agreed,” she said. “So we have a split contribution.”

The Assembly voted 5-0 to approve the firefighters union contract.

A tentative agreement with the Alaska State Employees Association will come before the Assembly in July. “We are still negotiating with police,” Geariety said.

Other Business

In other business Tuesday night, the Assembly:

– approved a resolution supporting the British Columbia decision against extending the receivership on the Tulsequah Chief mine, in order for the government to begin cleaning up the site. The mine closed in 1957 and the site has been discharging toxic acidic wastewater into the Taku and other watersheds important to Alaska’s subsistence and commercial fisheries the resolution says.

– approved submitting a request to Homeland Security to reassign $50,000 in funds from secure access system upgrades at the police department to the Mud Bay repeater project. The goal of the repeater project is to increase communications capabilities for emergency services. Secure access is a program related to electronic security, but was inadequately funded, the memo says.

– heard reports on the planned July 4 dedication of the Elizabeth Peratrovich bench, and the U.S. Coast Guard Change of Command ceremony on the Cutter Kukui on Thursday.

– heard City Clerk Sara Peterson talk about the open house at Centennial Hall at noon Thursday for those interested in running for School Board, mayor or Assembly in the Oct. 4 city election. Filing will open July 18 and close at 5 p.m. August 5.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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