FROM: Chris Birch December 14, 2000

The December meeting has been cancelled as school is closed. You are invited to the JANUARY 2001 Community Council meeting to be held in the Service High School Band Room (Ground Floor, center rear of the main building) the third Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 18, 2001 with Mid-Hillside Hosting. This meeting will include a presentation and discussion on the review the merits and effectiveness of our HILLSIDE LOCAL ROAD SERVICE AREAS. How do they work and what do they cost compared to other alternatives?

Following are the November 16^th meeting minutes

Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils

Meeting Minutes for November 16, 2000 by John Weddleton

Call to order: The meeting was called to order by President Chris Birch at 7 pm. Approximately 17 were in attendance. Board Members present were Chris Birch, Jeff Clarke and John Weddleton. Introductions made.

President’s Report: Chris Birch reported on a recent breakfast meeting of all Community Council Presidents with Mayor Wuerch. The mayor made it clear that he is strongly opposed to legislation proposed by Representative Con Bunde that would require approval (as in over 50%) of voters in an existing local road service areas prior to annexation into the Anchorage Roads and Drainage Service Area (ARDSA).

Minutes of the previous meeting: Summarized in Monthly Meeting Notice.

Federation of Community Councils Report: John Weddleton reported on the FCC meeting of November 15, 2000. The Mayor approved an increase in the budget to the tax cap. A shortfall in the amount expected from returns on the sale of ATU required a $3 million withdrawal from the reserve fund. $700,000 in AMATS for Abbott Rd improvements lost to South Anchorage Coastal Trail’s move to #3 on the list.

Comprehensive Plan goal was to approve in December, he expects it will not be approved until early 2001. He does not approve of the "cluster housing" supported in the Comprehensive Plan. He would like to pass a bill to ban it citywide. Hillside buses average 8 riders per hour. Town Meeting Saturday 1:30 at Service High to present and discuss the MAO budget. Three assembly members to attend.

Pat Dougherty, Editor of Anchorage Daily News has advised that web site space available free for non-profits. He was not sure if there would be advertising directly on the free pages. They print almost 100% of the Letters to the Editor. They’ll cut off letters after 6 or so cover the same point. "Keep them coming!"

MOA Tax Assessors’ presentation: Marty McGee, MOA Assessor with Keith Lindsay and Shan Forshee from the city assessor's office presented the monthly program.

The system is designed to allocate the tax burden fairly. Everyone pays based on the value of his or her property, not on income. The Assessments are done independently of the budget making process. Once the assessments are completed, the Mayor and Assembly set a mill rate that will allow them to meet the budget. There is no collusion with assembly or Mayor to raise assessments to meet budget needs. Assessed property includes homes, personal and business property. Total values of assessed real and personal property are:

Land: $4.2 Billion

Buildings: $10.1 Billion

Less Exempt: ($0.9 Billion) (for some 8,000 Senior’s and disabled Veterans)

Personal: $1.9 Billion (mobile homes, business and personal property)

Total Valuation: $15.3 Billion

HOMES - State and local laws require assessments annually with physical inspection at least once every 6 years. Value as of Jan 1st. In 2000, 8,200 parcels were visited. They have been doing a lot of visits in the Hillside area recently. Sales info feeds into their multiple regression model which estimates the incremental increase in market value of 40 features of a home. For any particular home, the model uses as input data only sales of homes that have similar features and are in the same general neighborhood.

The assessors claim the model is 95% accurate in predicting the value of homes. One could be skeptical of a model that estimates the value of 40 features with a sample of maybe a dozen or less homes as input data. Since the assessments are used to allocate the burden of the city’s budget, errors in the methods are not critical if the error is the same for all houses assessed.

They have a hard time getting an accurate value for high value homes. Your assessment may increase more than the Consumer Price Index. The CPI represents the price change in a list of products that does not include housing values.

PERSONAL AND BUSINESS PROPERTY - This category is about 13% of the total assessed value. Private planes, nonscheduled commercial planes, boats and motor homes are not taxed. The bulk of Personal Property valuation is business inventory and equipment. The value of commercial airplanes is based on their time spent in Anchorage. It is assumed that the average stop is 1.5 hours. This is likely incorrect since the switch from a primarily passenger airport to a cargo center. Cargo planes spend much longer on the ground. Taxes on cars and other vehicles are paid when you register the vehicle.

Tax cap activists Uwe Kalenka and his brother attended the meeting without comment aside from self-introductions.

Dick Tremaine, Anchorage Assembly Report: MOA budget revisions likely to include Fire and Police increases and a Hillside Bus.

Regarding the Alaska Digitel Tower, Dick advised that he had written most of the new tower law. The towers cannot be put on a residential property that has a home on it. That severely limits where the towers can go in Anchorage. Dick noted that Mayor Wuerch is against local service areas but the weight of the Assembly appears to support them.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:30 pm