The ordinance would have asked voters through a ballot proposition in the October municipal election to approve the marijuana retail tax. The ordinance failed in a 2-4 vote. That followed a public hearing where several locals, who were mostly critical of the tax, weighed in.
According to City of Kodiak sales tax records, the tax could have generated more than $300,000 in additional annual revenue for the borough.
As proposed last month, the tax revenue would’ve gone into a new “Community Well-Being Fund” to support “health, education and economic development.”
Sandra West was one of several skeptical locals at the borough assembly meeting on Aug. 6.
“I do like the idea of having a better clarification for the community well-being fund," West said. "It's a little loose. It's a little loose on what we're gonna you know –we're gonna collect this money. What are we gonna use it for? Good things," she said sarcastically.
Scott Arndt, who used to be the borough mayor, said the borough already has a general fund and the tax revenue shouldn’t go into a new fund.
“I think that basically the money going into there needs to offset reduction in property taxes," Arndt said. "I'm not in favor of setting up another fund that four members up there get to decide where it gets spent.”
Other opponents said the tax would hurt consumers and could bolster the black market for marijuana.
Marijuana retailer Janiese Stevens, who owns Wildflower Kodiak and Wildflower’s Smoky Hallow, said consumers will look for a cheaper and potentially illegal way to purchase marijuana if the tax were implemented.
Her testimony along with other public comments nudged Borough Assembly member Steven Ames to change his stance on the ordinance.
“Sending it to the voters to decide – that's kind of why I was originally for, just to let them," Ames said. "But I don't know if the voters are going to educate themselves and see all sides of this, and just vote from their hip.”
Assembly member Bo Whiteside tried to appease critics with last minute amendments and then unsuccessfully tried to postpone the vote on the ordinance. Assembly members Whiteside and Jeffery Woods were the only votes in support. Member Caroline Roberts, who originally proposed the tax, was absent during the Aug. 6 meeting.
Whiteside said without passing new revenue generating measures like the proposed tax, the Borough Assembly will likely have to increase property taxes in the near future.
“There's not much left to cut. If anything, the borough is lean. If anyone has ideas on how we can make that more lean, I'd love to hear them. But we are as lean as we can be, and costs are only going up," he said. "So what are our levers to pull for generating revenue in the community? Property taxes – that's our main lever.”
And for transparency, Borough Mayor Jared Griffin is also the general manager at KMXT. Per KMXT’s policy, he does not have any editorial influence over news stories and doesn’t review them before they air.
