August 01, 2006
Tuesday

In the recent letter Consolidation can be for the better, By Robert McRoberts, he states his belief that consolidation would be good because it would allow contractors to go to a single government to obtain permits.

To be fair, consolidation may allow one contractors one less office to travel to, to obtain permits. Unfortunately, builders will find that under consolidation the total number of permits will increase, as will their cost and complexity. Call any builder in the Anchorage area and compare apples to apples, and you will see what I mean.

Consolidation will lead us down a road where permits will be needed areawide for everything, fix your deck, install a hot water heater, cut trees on your property, etc. In our new consolidated government those permits will be sent to your local tax assessor and used to increase your property valuation and taxes. Please see attached articles to support this.

As to your second statement Besides the city can just annex you as they did the Shoreline Drive area. Actually this is not true. On May 27th, 2006 HB 133 was signed into law. This bill requires an affirmative vote of the people in the area to be annexed, and of the people in the area they are annexed into. Both groups must approve the annexation. In the past it only a majority of all voters were required. Please see the following article.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959)

Rodney Dial
Ketchikan, AK - USA

About: "Just an average Joe, trying to keep Ketchikan from becoming New-Anchorage, and get the word out on the pain that Consolidation will bring to our island."

Related Viewpoint:

Consolidation can be for the better. By Robert McRoberts - Ketchikan, AK - USA

Governor Signs HB 133
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 27, 2006 No. 06-091

Governor Signs HB 133 Borough Incorporation and Annexation Bill (Juneau) Governor Frank H. Murkowski has signed into law HB 133, which makes changes in the way the Local Boundary Commission processes municipal incorporations, annexations, detachments, mergers, consolidations, reclassifications, and dissolutions.

The bill, sponsored by North Pole Representative John Coghill, also protects the voters right to incorporate, outline the boundaries of their municipality, and select the level of service they want. It also limits the ability of the LBC to impose conditions on an incorporation without an appropriate public process.

HB 133 also requires a majority vote of the voters residing in an area that is to be annexed to an existing municipality or borough, as well as a majority vote of those residing within the municipality. This provision will affect a current LBC regulation that has allowed annexations to go through by aggregating a majority vote of those voters in the area being annexed and the existing municipality, even though a majority in the area being annexed might be opposed.


Permit examples

Illegal cutting on Hillside nets fine

Author: ANNE AURAND
Anchorage Daily News Staff
Date: March 19, 2005
Publication: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Page: B1
Word count: 648

The city this week halted work in a new Hillside development because crews were cutting trees without the permits. The developer, Lee Baker, will be charged a $1,000 fine to get his permits and continue with the project, city building official Ron Thompson said.. "We apparently broke some rule, and it was not intentional, and we certainly will pay whatever fine we need to pay," Baker said. "It's just business.". Dianne [Read article (fee)]

Wuerch proposes raising fees, fines

Author: Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News Staff
Date: August 18, 2001
Publication: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Page: A1
Word count: 831

It would cost $30 more to get buried. The city would charge $175 for a permit to set up mobile homes. Honking your car horn when you shouldn't -- or failing to when you should -- could cost an extra $30. Drinking in public? Another $25 on top of the current $75 fine. Those increases and many more are part of a proposal by Mayor George Wuerch's administration to revamp the user fees the city collects for services and the fines it charges for violations of municipal [Read article (fee)]

Begich proposes city fee increases

Author: ANNE AURAND
Anchorage Daily News Staff
Date: November 5, 2003
Publication: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Page: B4
Word count: 511

Mayor Mark Begich on Tuesday proposed a broad spectrum of city fee, fine and penalty increases to add $5.6 million of revenue to help balance the 2004 city budget. The increases are designed to reflect the actual costs required to run various department programs. Many fees have not been adjusted for several years as the city's expenditures have gone up, according to the mayor.. The Assembly will hold a public hearing on the proposed fees on Nov. 18, concurrent with the second [Read article (fee)]

 

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