Petersburg’s Borough Assembly is scheduled to look over a couple new ordinances that could change how the Borough levies taxes at its meeting tonight.
The Assembly will consider raising the maximum amount of a single transaction that the Borough can tax by 24%. Currently, it can only collect sales tax from transactions under $1,200. A new ordinance would bump that ceiling up to $5,000.
That translates to an increase from $72 to $300 per single purchase of goods or services. The Borough hasn’t adjusted its sales tax ceiling in over two decades. And Petersburg currently has the lowest maximum taxable single purchase amount in Southeast Alaska. If the Assembly passes the ordinance in three readings, it’ll go before the public as a ballot proposition in the October municipal election.
That’s not the only tax adjustment on the agenda tonight. The Assembly is also looking at raising the Borough’s tax on room rentals from four percent to seven percent. The transient room tax is applied to rooms that are rented at Petersburg hotels, motels, lodges, and Airbnbs for fewer than 30 days.
The Borough estimates that bumping the tax up to seven percent would bring in about $53,000 in additional revenue. And another ordinance on tonight’s agenda would dedicate those extra funds to tourism-related services around town. That could include things like informational signs, park maintenance, and beautification projects downtown.
The Assembly will hold a public hearing for both ordinances relating to the room tax at its meeting tonight. If the room tax increase passes another two readings, voters will get to decide whether to adopt it in October.
In other business, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources is poised to convey 1,758 acres of municipal entitlement lands to the Borough. Those lands are scattered across Mitkof Island, and also include three small islands in Sumner Strait. The Borough has written in approval of the preliminary decision. The deadline for the public to submit written comments about it to the Department of Natural Resources is Friday, May 24, at 4:30 p.m.
The Borough also has its sights set on a completely different section of state-owned land, and for a very specific purpose. Tonight, the Assembly will consider signing a letter in support of the Borough’s application to take possession of 21 acres of state-owned tidelands in Scow Bay, where it plans to build a harbor and a boat haul out. The Borough is slated to receive about $4 million in Department of Transportation funding for the project.
Petersburg’s Borough Assembly will meet at 6:00 p.m. tonight in the Assembly Chambers. KFSK will broadcast that meeting live and post the recording in our Borough Assembly Archive.
