Eaglexit
Overview
What is Eaglexit all About?
(2019©donnliston.com)
Another
informational meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 3 at the ER
Lion’s Club hall, but let’s review here and now what this effort is all about.
Welcome
skeptics. Your first questions are going to be: How much will it cost?
and Who will pay for it?
Fair
enough. The Municipality of Anchorage (Muni.org) has been doing such a bang-up
job for so long that the possibility of self-governing and providing services
for our area separate from the Mudflats local government may be unthinkable. So,
I sat down with one of the Eaglexit ringleaders, Michael Tavoliero, to
get a preview of what they will be talking about at the upcoming meeting.
Then
let’s talk about legal authority to detach and why this is the third time
detachment for Assembly District 2 (AD2) is being attempted.
Some
basic facts:

Total
assessment for AD2 is $3.7 Billion according to the Muni website. AD 2
population is around 50,000 people who pay an estimated $57.5 million each year
to the Muni in property taxes toward the total $3.7 Billion assessment amount.
The
Municipality of Anchorage has $5.7 Billion in assets with $3.7 Billion totally
paid for. We also know that the Muni has $1.6 Billion in long-term liabilities
for which AD2 has some obligation. This information can be found in the Muni’s
2017 CAFR.
With
two of 11 assembly members representing AD2 resident’s interests we have an 18
percent interest in whatever the board decides to do.

This
could be a teachable moment! Hang with me here, readers.
Alaskans
are notoriously independent in nature and many folks of this semi-rural region
enjoy large lots and enforced privacy. There are many reasons why WE have
escaped the Mudflats Community to live here. We value the natural separation
from East Anchorage by virtue of our location.
Other
local leaders have recognized this and even taken steps to seek autonomy before.
“Our
polls right now, which is more of a sample, show that about 75% of the
community likes the idea; they want more information and I believe if the
information is reliable and provable they would support it,” continued Tavoliero.
“You have to keep in mind the history."
“In
1974-75, Lee Jordan and a group of local people successfully detached from
Anchorage and incorporated as a second class borough. A group of dissidents
decided to sue, saying ‘they can’t do that.’ The superior court agreed with
Jordan and that group--ruling against the dissidents, ”
explained Tavoliero.
Of
course, it didn’t end there.
Besides
the court fight, events of the day impacted this community’s efforts for
autonomy. Following Statehood the legislature had enacted a Mandatory Borough
Act which provided impetus for establishing the Greater Anchorage Area Borough.
The GAAB came into existence in 1964, resulting in overlap and duplication of
powers under two local governments. Beginning in 1966 and continuing until
voters approved a Charter Commission in October 1969, an ongoing battle ensued
between the City by the mudflats and Borough. Actions by community leaders and governmental
officials ultimately led to unification into what we know today as the
Municipality of Anchorage, approved by voters in 1975.
This
was the incoming tide Jordan and his supporters faced between local government
mud wrestlers in Anchorage and the GAAB. Proponents of detachment--in what
became AD2 by Unification--were swamped.

The Local Boundary Commission is established in the Alaska Constitution under Article X, Section 12 as part of the Executive Branch to consider local boundary changes for consideration by the Legislature.
Jordan
and his group obviously had no confidence in local Anchorage government and
wanted the most direct means for establishing a government closest to the
people of Eagle River/Chugiak.
“The
lawsuit that was filed by the dissidents went to the Alaska Supreme Court and
unfortunately, I believe, the ASC erred in their ruling against detachment,”
said Tavoliero.
Current
dissidents often bring up this lawsuit as a reason why Eaglexit is a fool’s
errand. Tavoliero doesn’t think so.
“The
court ruled this was a local or special act not allowed by Article 2, Section
19 of the State Constitution,” explained Tavoliero.
ART. II Sect, 19. Local or
Special Acts
The legislature shall pass no
local or special act if a general act can be made applicable. Whether a general
act can be made applicable shall be subject to judicial determination.

So how
is a giant local government ranging from Girdwood to Eklutna working out now for residents of Eagle
River/Chugiak?
“I
think it is inefficient and ineffective,” responds Tavoliero. “Remember before
Unification, the City of Girdwood was an incorporated municipality. Glenn Alps
was an incorporated Municipality. Unification was sold as a process that would
create a more efficient, cost effective local government that would represent
and meet the needs of the entire area. Eagle River/Chugiak’s biggest complaint
was that it did not have representation with the greater Anchorage borough.”
Today
Eaglexit promoters recall two schools of thought before Unification: “1) We
want to detach and incorporate and be our own community, our own city, or 2)
You need to incorporate and be under our umbrella and we’ll take care of you.
As a matter of fact we will even give you representation--a seat at the table, they said.
“We
have now looked at that, and what we have discovered is that over these more than 45
years that hasn’t been accomplished,” explained Tavoliero. “Instead what we
have seen is a continual growth of property taxes; we have seen a true demise
in our education system relative to costs. Right now the average per-pupil cost
is $18,800 in 2019 dollars including local, state and federal contributions. Real
and personal property tax collection for FY 2018 by the Muni was $11,356 per
student based on an enrollment of 45,958 students and an annual real and
personal property collection of $247 Million to the Anchorage School District (See
2018 CAFR ASD). So the question is: ‘Can we do it better?’

“My
position on this is simple: Can a largely affluent community of 50,000 people
self-determine their future? I think we can!”