Mat-Su Assembly advances advisory ballot question on 7¢ motor-fuel excise tax after weeks of debate; ordinance continued to December

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly voted on multiple amendments to a proposed 7¢ per-gallon motor-fuel excise tax ordinance on Aug. 5, approving an amendment to place an advisory question about the tax on the November ballot, adopting a change to the proposed revenue allocation and continuing final consideration of the ordinance until the assembly’s Dec. 2 meeting.

The advisory ballot amendment, moved by Assemblymember Stephanie Nowers and described to the assembly as nonbinding, would ask voters whether the borough should adopt a 7¢ motor-fuel tax for a 1½-year trial period and direct the borough manager to propose budgets that allocate 30% of revenue to reduce property taxes and 70% to voter-approved road projects. Nowers told the assembly, “My amendment is to place this on the ballot for an advisory vote in November.”

The assembly then amended the advisory language to change the proposed allocation, with Assemblymember Maxwell Sumner successfully proposing a 50/50 split between property-tax reduction and voter-approved road projects. Sumner said the change would frame the question voters would consider about how any revenue…