Last week's borough assembly meeting, on April 28, only had a few items on the agenda. The majority of the meeting was spent receiving comments on the COVID-19 situation from the public and some assembly members.
Joan Sargent, of Island of Faith Lutheran Church, led the invocation for the meeting. Afterwards, she also shared her comments on the pandemic and the community's response to it. She wanted to share with the public that the Irene Ingle Public Library, which has been serving as a hub to collect and distribute face masks around town, has handed out about 330 masks as of April 28. The library also had a stock of over 100 adult-size masks on hand to distribute, plus an additional 30 child-size masks. She also added that the masks the library has on hand are only a fraction of the masks Wrangellites have made to share with others, and she wanted to express her thanks for everyone's generosity with their time and sewing supplies. She also wanted to request that the city continue to express the importance of wearing masks in public.
"The other 'thank you' goes to those who are wearing them," Sargent said. "I personally just want to thank them because it just tells me they care about my health and possibly my life."
Local fisherman Mike Lockabey also spoke at the meeting last week. Lockabey came before the assembly to request that they try to disseminate more information to the public during this pandemic, especially when it comes to state health mandates. Most of the mandates passed down from the state government have been fairly straightforward, he said, but recent ones such as Mandate 17 are rather complex. The assembly doing something to disseminate information about the mandates, and how it will impact people, would go a long way in keeping everybody informed.
Lockabey also said he heard from Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen that the sales tax revenue from the last quarter was down by 50 percent. By his own math, he said that Wrangell got $2.6 million in sales tax revenue last year, which equates to $37 million in taxable sales. If sales tax revenue is down by 50 percent for the entire year, he said, that is about $18.5 million not flowing through Wrangell. If further restrictions are put in place during the pandemic, he said, the city will only see sales tax revenue continue to decline. With a lot less money flowing through the community, he said that businesses would need support.
Lockabey wanted to propose the city set aside any relief money they receive for local businesses. Another idea he had was to suspend Wrangell's sales tax altogether. This has happened in the past, he said, when the city has had an excess of money. It could really help people save money, and the city can cover their incurred losses from a lack of sales tax with COVID-19 relief funding.
"Instead of not having a no-sales-tax day, how about we have a no-sales-tax year?" He suggested.
After Lockabey's
comments, Von Bargen
clarified that she did not say sales tax revenue was down 50 percent last quarter. What she indicated, she said, is she
anticipates sales tax revenue being down 50 percent the last quarter of this fiscal
year, which is also the current quarter for the city. This current quarter ends on June 30.
"We are also anticipating considerable reductions in sales tax revenue for the upcoming quarters, as Mr. Lockabey indicated would likely be the case, but I just wanted to clarify that," Von Bargen said.
During the meeting, Mayor Steve Prysunka took the opportunity to voice some concerns he has. There is a trend, he said, where state officials are coming out with new statements and information and claiming to have worked with local communities and gotten their input. This, he said, is not the reality of the situation. He is deeply concerned that there is not really a process for local municipalities to have a say in policymaking when it comes to combating COVID-19.
"For example, with the fishing mandate, the governor characterized that came out to the communities and we worked with our community partners to create this," Prysunka said. "As I'm talking with other mayors through the region and throughout the state, that is not the case. We were not consulted on that.
As a matter of fact we were given it with less than 24 hours to respond, and after we squawked a fair bit they gave us 48."
Under actionable items in the meeting, the assembly approved of senior property tax exemptions that were received after the March 1 deadline, but before the late filing grace period. They also approved of a postponement of Wrangell's Tax-Free Day. Originally scheduled for May 2, the new Tax-Free Day is set for June 6, pending further loosening of state restrictions on social gatherings and allowing retail businesses to operate.
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