Shop Local
Dear Editor: Over this past weekend, Sitka’s stores were crowded with shoppers as they purchased the first of their holiday gifts. With Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and of course, the Sales Tax Holiday on Friday and Saturday, many Sitkans took advantage of the great deals offered by our local merchants. The Sitka Chamber of Commerce would like to thank the city Assembly for recognizing the importance of shopping locally by generously granting two days of tax-free shopping, despite the decline in sales tax revenue that our community is currently facing.
Many studies have been done that show the benefits of dollars being spent locally. Purchasing local products and shopping at locally owned businesses create a ripple effect. This “multiplier effect” is a basic economics concept and makes a substantial difference to Sitka’s economy. It is local shopping that keeps cash here in our community, creating jobs, generating local taxes and building prosperity. More and more dollars leave Sitka as we spend our money online instead of in our local stores, and this past weekend, email inboxes were bombarded with online deals. Our local merchants, however, rolled out the red carpet and encouraged Sitkans to spend their dollars in Sitka.
The Sitka Chamber would like to encourage Sitka residents to recognize the impact and importance of spending our dollars locally, not just during the sales tax holiday, but all year round.
Jennifer Robinson,
Executive Director,
The Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce
Recycling Tips
Dear Editor: Today’s tip from your recycling workers at Community School describes how to bring the plastic recycling process to a screeching halt. It takes just three simple steps.
First, seal up your plastic items in a plastic bag; second, combine your #1 items with #2 items in that bag – maybe add some #4 or #7 or some aluminum cans and glass; third, make sure that caps and lids are in place on all the containers – screw them down tight.
When you have completed all three steps and your recycling nightmare reaches a worker who is already cold, wet and tired, the entire bag will simply be pitched into the dumpster. If the weather is pleasant and the pace is moderate, your little gift from Murphy will be laboriously dismantled and sorted – another bottleneck in a job that is already more difficult than necessary.
The lesson we hope you learn from this depressing story is: always, always, always strip down your plastic items to their most basic level – no caps, no lids, no bags and no visiting with other breeds of plastic. The reward will be a recycling center that works better for you.
Thanks for recycling in Sitka.
Roger Bleier, Sitka
Sitka and Taxes
Dear Editor: Frenchie and I bought a winter home in Yuma, Ariz. Contrary to some reports we are not moving permanently and our home is and will be Sitka.
I just wanted to pass on some information to the people of Sitka so they can be aware of how fortunate they are that their tax rates are so low. Yuma has a property tax rate of .63 percent of appraised value, similar to Sitka with no breaks for seniors. Sales tax here is 9.4 percent with no breaks for seniors. They also have never heard of tax caps. If you buy a new car or a million dollar cruiser you pay tax on the full amount. If you buy a Big Mac you pay 11.4 percent because there is an additional 2 percent tax on transient lodging, bars and prepared foods.
Folks living here full time also don’t get Permanent Fund money. Actually they pay state income tax in addition to their federal tax. Incomes up to $20,000 pay 2.88 percent, up to $50,000 is 3.36 percent, $100,000 is 4.24 percent, and if your lucky enough to make up to $300,000 you pay 4.54 percent of your income.
Of course there are advantages to being here, it was 79 degrees today and Frenchie and I enjoyed watching the sun come up while having our morning coffee on the patio. It was about 60 degrees, comfortable for us and parka weather for locals.
The next time the Assembly talks about raising taxes, work with them. All costs for running city governments go up consistently while Sitka is experiencing a downturn of tourism and a shrinking tax base. The police department has already taken the first hit with their budget cuts. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that more city services will be cut in the near future.
Good luck, Sitka, we’ll return with the king salmon.
Bill and Frenchie Paden
