Borough government a corporation or dictatorship?

The Mayor has referred to the borough as a “Public Corporation” worth 500 to 850 million dollars (his figures keep changing). This being the case, taxpayers are the shareholders of this corporation.

The Mayor continues to lament how the shareholders repealing the 1 percent sales tax increase “will lead to the disruption and bankruptcy,” of our corporation.

Ford and General Motors are corporations. Due to financial difficulties, they’ve announced worker lay-offs, pay cuts, and the closing of plants to remain profitable. GM has even announced selling a large portion of GMAC, their lucrative financing division.

The difference between those corporations and ours is that ours has the power to tax, and does so whenever it wants to spend money it doesn’t have. Recognizing this, the voters denied the additional sales tax, telling the assembly and the administration to live within their budget. What a novel idea! This only upset the “CEO” and the “board of directors” running our corporation, and now, they’ve gone on a binge for more taxes.

I run a corporation, but I could never run it the way this borough is run. When I don’t have the resources, I do with little, or without until the money is earned. The mayor and assembly could learn a few lessons on running a corporation by watching others. Oh, that’s right, this is a “public” corporation, and those others are “private.” That makes a huge difference. One is accountable to its shareholders while the other is entitled to fleece its shareholders.

And if we shareholders don’t like the fleecing we’re getting, we’ll be considered “terrorists” and punished for it with more taxes. This is the return we get on our investments. Sounds more like a dictatorship to me.

Cori Williams

Soldotna