FEES, FEES, FEES! Craig Looking to Tax Port St. Nick Residents! Rumors of Annexation!

[Original Reporting by Annette Cole]

Port St. Nick residents where in a mad scramble on the evening of Thursday October 20th, when they found out that within a few hours the Craig City Council was going to discuss an Ordinance (that if passed) would create a gaggle of fees (read: taxation by proxy).

By the time the Council started, about 15 to 20 Port St. Nick Residents where present and then the real drama began in ernest.

Some of the Controversial Ordinance Codes (See the full Codes at the end of the article): 

To justify this ordinance, the City of Craig (and Mayor Watson) argued that P.S.N would not have electrical power if the City had not paid for the power poles to be installed in the first place--free of charge to the residents. Which they should be grateful for, considering that outside of city limits, residents have to pay to have power poles installed.

The P.S.N residents retorted that the Craig Water Treatment Plant is out in P.S.N, so the power poles would have needed to be installed anyway.  In other words, the City wasn't really doing anyone a 'favor' but meeting its own needs first. Also P.S.N residents who receive power, water, and trash pick up pay much more than the in-town residents. Not to mention that P.S.N residents are also paying city sales taxes which are added to our utility bills, which we are ok with considering these taxes go towards road maintenance etc...

Another topic of contention was road maintenance and P.S.N residents agree that it is very costly and they are willing to work with the city on this but the things that are written in the Ordinance as a 'solution' are absolutely outrageous!

DJ Hansen, a P.S.N resident, suggested that a toll booth could be set up for those traveling on the road that could help fund road maintenance. The City replied that the road was conveyed over to them by Shaan Seet Corp.

Additional Notes:

• A statement was made by the city that they have all they needed to move towards the annexation of Port St. Nick but shortly after this comment, Mayor Dennis Watson stated, "that would not happen on his watch". 

• The numbers on the last 2 pages no where near add up to what they factored in the summary. It was stated (but not in the Ordinance) that the fee per lot would possibly be close to $700 a year? Not sure about that as it's not stated in the Ordinance.

• I personally, along with many others I have spoken with, feel because the Borough plan failed (has been tabled for now) that they had to come up with something to generate more $$$$. I know P.S.N has been high on the list for quite some time because the value of the land out here is almost top dollar.

In the end they thanked everyone for their input, advice and ideas.

Breaking Update: 

A City Of Craig council member approached a P.S.N resident on Saturday October 22nd and stated that the City will be rewriting the ordinance and are now looking at possible annexation and want the P.S.N residents to show up to the meeting to express their opinion  and ideas during the "public discussion".

The P.S.N resident wasn't told when the meeting would be, the PSN resident was told to check the City Of Craig's web site for that info.

If True, this goes against the word of the Craig City Mayor Dennis Watson, who stated during the meeting Thursday evening Oct 20, 2016 that the "Annexation of Port. St. Nick would not happen on his watch".


Read More: Whale Pass Will Be Voting to Become a 2nd Class City 

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