At this week’s Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting, members of the Assembly decided to let the public weigh in on a proposed seven-cent fuel tax with an advisory ballot question this November.
The proposed tax is meant to alleviate the pressure from increased property taxes, which are currently how debt services are paid. Borough Manager Mike Brown said in an interview earlier in the year that area-wide road projects are often paid through debt service, which then gets passed on to residents in increased property taxes. He said the fuel tax is one way to help reduce or eliminate the debt service needed for those projects.
District 2 Assemblymember Stephanie Nowers says residents have voted for $75 million in road projects over the past two years, which will all be paid through property taxes. She goes on to say that fuel taxes would enable the Borough to capture outside dollars to fund the projects in a different way.
Should the fuel tax be implemented, the public will still weigh in on area-wide road projects through the voting process. As proposed, the tax would begin on January 1, 2026 and expire on June 30, 2027, unless voted by the Assembly to continue it. The tax would apply to fuel sold at gas stations, but would not include aviation, marine, and home heating fuels. In a previous interview, Manager Brown estimated the tax could bring in up to $5 million from residents and visitors to the Borough. For residents, that could mean about $30 extra per year at the pump.
The Assembly will resume the fuel tax discussion at the December 2 meeting after the public has voted on the advisory ballot question.
