The Kenai Peninsula Borough will not cap the value of property senior citizens can exempt from property taxes, for now. That’s after five new assembly members Tuesday joined the president and vice president in undoing a previous assembly vote that drew lengthy debate.
At issue is an overhaul of borough code governing property taxes. Assembly members earlier this month approved breaking one long chapter of code into four smaller chapters, with the goal of making borough property tax rules easier to understand.
But assembly members disagreed over a proposed cap on property tax exemptions for seniors.
As introduced, the proposal would have capped the borough’s senior citizen property tax exemption at $350,000. That would cover the borough’s $300,000 senior-specific exemption and the $50,000 exemption available to all property owners for property on which they reside.
Between when the ordinance was introduced and when it went before assembly members for a vote, borough voters increased that residential exemption to $75,000. There was more back and forth, with the assembly approving a proposal to increase the senior exemption by the same amount, as proposed by former Soldotna representative Tyson Cox.
But Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche and Homer representative Kelly Cooper had a different idea. They proposed removing the cap.
This week, Cooper successfully moved to undo the previous assembly vote increasing the senior exemption cap, with all of the assembly’s five new members in favor.
“It appeared to me that we were diving into some policies regarding exemptions and stacking, and I did not feel that the public was aware that we were going to go into that depth,” she said. “And I think it deserves a discussion, but it should be its own discussion.”
The recission opened the ordinance back up for debate and amendments. Then, assembly members took the senior exemption cap out of the legislation entirely. Removing the cap on senior citizens’ property exemptions passed unanimously.
Micciche favored rescission because he says “no one had any idea what they were voting for.” Holding up a copy of the assembly’s legislative rulebook, he said it’s not uncommon for votes to be rescinded. And he suggested some proposals considered at the last assembly meeting weren’t transparent.
“This also says I shouldn't use words like ‘sneaky’ or ‘underhanded,’” he said. “So I won't. If I were going to use words like ‘sneaky’ and ‘underhanded,’ they wouldn't include what's happening tonight. This is our eyes-open discussion about something that only, from my count, two people intended to pass.”
South Peninsula representative Willy Dunne pushed back.
“I knew exactly what I was voting for, and I think a number of the other assembly members did,” he said. “Some Assembly members did admit to some confusion, and so the Cox amendment was printed out and distributed to everybody, and it was in front of us in black and white.”
Reached by text message Thursday, Cox and former assembly members Leslie Morton and Brent Johnson said they were not confused about what they were voting on. Former Assembly President Peter Ribbens declined to comment on the vote.
Former Kalifornsky representative James Baisden said he was confused. He voted in favor of Cox’ amendment increasing the senior cap, but also intended to vote to remove the cap entirely.
“I’m glad they reconsidered it and changed it,” Baisden said.
Now that borough code doesn’t cap senior tax exemptions, Micciche and Cooper say tax exemptions can be addressed by the assembly in a separate ordinance.
