The Haines Borough Assembly last week passed an ordinance adding a monthly surcharge of $1.51 to every land line and cell phone in the borough.
The assembly voted 4-1 to establish the tax. Assembly member George Campbell was opposed, and assembly member Dave Berry was absent.
Manager David Sosa said this week staff is working with Alaska Power and Telephone to implement the billing changes. Phone users can expect to see the surcharge show up on their bills within the next few months, he said.
Sosa said the surcharge will help pay for maintenance and operations of the borough’s new $500,000 enhanced E-911 system and finance its replacement.
Campbell said in an interview this week he opposed the phone tax because residents are already paying taxes into the fire, medical and police funds for emergency services. Just because the borough bought an expensive system doesn’t mean another tax should be added to pay for it, he said.
“It’s just like saying, ‘Oh wow, we are going to buy a limousine for a police car, so we are going to have to add a new tax to everybody’s gasoline,’” Campbell said.
Instead of implementing a new tax, staff should do a better job of budgeting the money they already have, Campbell said. “I believe it’s incumbent upon the department heads to work this in the budget. This should be a budget item. They should be figuring it out with their existing money, not figuring new ways to add (revenue) because they want more money.”
The new system has improved radio communications, upgraded the console used at the dispatch center and made the system E-911 compliant.