Nome Common Council sets worksession to mull taxation of airplanes
The Nome Common Council set a worksession for June 12 to discuss certain exemptions from personal property taxes, with focus on airplanes that are currently not taxed by the City. As the Common Council is currently hammering out the budget for the next fiscal year, Councilmember Scot Henderson asked why one of the biggest industries in Nome, commercial aviation, is exempt from paying personal property taxes on their aircraft. Mayor John Handeland said that all aircraft are exempt from personal property taxes, not just commercially used planes. Henderson said that trucking and other construction companies pay personal property taxes on their heavy equipment used commercially and that he struggles to understand the reasoning behind exempting the aviation companies. The issue will be discussed at a work session prior to a regular council meeting in June. The only business conducted on Monday’s regular council meeting was passing through second reading an ordinance to lease the city lot across adjacent to the recycling center to Sitnasuak and Bonanza Fuel to establish a temporary gas station while Bonanza is remodeling the gas station on Bering Street. In public comments, longtime Nome Volunteer Ambulance volunteer Charlie Lean stepped to the podium to acknowledge Tom Vaden, who gave three decades of service to the Nome Volunteer Ambulance service not only as a EMT but also as a training officer. Vaden is retiring from the Nome Volunteer Ambulance Department. Lean said the City owes Vaden recognition for being one of the founding members of the ambulance service, for his many years of volunteering not only at the NVAD but also his training services that produced many EMTs serving Nome and the region. “Tom, in my estimation, is one of the longest serving volunteers at the department,” said Lean. In other public comments, Paul Kosto, executive director of the Nome Chamber of Commerce, brought to the Council the news that several vendors in Nome have started collecting seven percent sales tax again. The seasonal sales tax, which increased from five to seven percent from May through September, was abolished last year by Nome voters in a ballot question. Several vendors, including Amazon and a local grocery store, have not adjusted their tax collection to the new reality and charge 7 percent sales tax. City Manager Glen Steckman said it is not true that the city collects the extra two percent as it is nearly impossible with the new online filing system to collect the incorrect amount. No direction to the consumer was given other than people squaring it away with the vendor. Steckman said the Chamber is sending out reminders to member businesses that sales tax is set at 5 percent. Mayor Handeland reported that leadership met with Dept. of Justice officials who were in Nome to commemorate Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Day on May 5. He said they made several suggestions for funding opportunities to offer programs geared to prevent crimes. “We have open lines of communication with the NPD and the DoJ,” Handeland said. “Sometimes we don’t know what’s going on but rest assure, behind the scenes are open lines of communication.” In announcements, Port Director Joy Baker encouraged the public to attend a public meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers, port and city leadership on May 17 at the Mini Convention Center to learn more about the port expansion plans. Nome Beltz graduation is this year happening on a Tuesday, May 16 and will again feature a parade of graduates through Nome prior to the celebration on the Nome-Beltz campus. Also of note is the updated time for the Board of Equalization. Faced with 169 appeals, the city and the assessor need more time to review the appeals and to meet with appelants. The new dates set for the board are May 31, June 1 and June 2.