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Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly rescinds prior action and amends property-tax ordinance after procedural confusion
Summary
After extended debate about unintended language in Ordinance 2025-21, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly voted to rescind prior action, rescind a contested amendment and then adopt a revised Cooper/Michicky amendment to restore the intended treatment of senior, veteran and other exemptions.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Oct. 28 voted to rescind its prior final action on Ordinance 2025-21 and then adopted a corrected amendment to clarify how multiple property-tax exemptions stack.
Vice President Cooper moved to “rescind final action of ordinance 20 25 dash 21 that was enacted as amended,” saying the change is meant to correct unintended consequences that crept into the ordinance’s amendment process. That motion passed 7–2. The clerk recorded no votes from Ms. Eklund and Mr. Dunn against rescission.
Assembly members then voted to rescind the Cox amendment that had been folded into the ordinance in a prior meeting; that motion passed 8–1. After returning to the Cooper/Michicky amendment on the floor, the body adopted a technical revision to Section 5.13.080(c)(1) that struck language creating a combined senior cap. By unanimous consent the assembly enacted Ordinance 2025-21 as amended.
The core dispute centered on whether recent amendments had removed the phrase “senior exemption,” unintentionally subjecting disabled veterans, volunteer firefighters and other optional exemptions to a combined cap. Assembly Member Dunn urged the body to resist rescission and instead use amendment procedures and more public input. “I would urge the assembly members to vote against the motion to rescind,” he said, arguing amendment would allow public comment and avoid the precedent of using rescission as a default fix.
Mayor Michicky supported rescission as the appropriate parliamentary remedy after what he described as procedural mistakes at the prior meeting. “When you make a mistake as what clearly happened in the last meeting, you rescind your motion,” the mayor said during debate.
Clerk roll calls recorded the two formal votes in full: the motion to rescind Ordinance 2025-21 passed 7 yes, 2 no; the vote to rescind the Cox amendment passed 8 yes, 1 no (Mr. Dunn). No new tax rates were adopted; the enacted ordinance reorganizes borough tax code chapters (real property, personal property, exemptions/credits/deferrals, tax appeals) and includes the corrected language intended to preserve full exemptions for eligible seniors and other designated groups.
What happens next: the ordinance, as amended, will be reflected in the borough code and posted with the clerk’s office. Assembly members who opposed rescission said they still prefer additional public meetings and a clear amendment process for any future changes to exemption policy.
