KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - Kodiak officials have said they are looking for ways to generate tax revenue at Alaska’s state-owned spaceport.
The Alaska Aerospace Corporation is exempt from local taxes - but private companies using facility do not have that exemption, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Monday.
Alaska Aerospace CEO Craig Campbell said Friday that he was open to working with the borough on the issue, but had not yet been contacted about it.
“We certainly do want to be good neighbors. Would be glad to talk about it,” Campbell said.
Borough Mayor Dan Rohrer said proposals include a tax on a temporary camp being built for approximately 200 visiting soldiers from Israel and other countries.
“I don’t know for sure what it’s worth,” Rohrer said. “But it’s an expensive, high-end man camp.”
Taxable personal property is subject about 1.01 percent of assessed value, according to borough code.
Rohrer said he is seeking fairness in the borough’s taxation enforcement.
“I’m not trying to pick on the spaceport,” he said. “My question is how do we make sure it’s a level playing field?”
Rohrer mentioned Kiewit, a contractor chosen for a multi-year renovation of the Terror Lake hydroelectric facility.
“They’ll be moving in equipment and man camps and things of that nature on the ground,” he said. “Because of that, they will be taxed.”
Rohrer said the tax revenue could balance a budget that isn’t too far off from being leveled.
“We’re at the point in our budget where we’re not millions of dollars apart,” he said. “Fifty thousand here, sixty thousand there makes a big difference.”
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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com
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