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No Increase In Taxes Anticipated
Poland States At Evaluation Hearing
There will be no increase in the
City tax mill rate in the immediate
future. If anything the rate may
go down.
City Manager Bill Poland made
this statement in answer to a ques
tion posed by a member of the
audience at a meeting Thursday
noon of the Chamber of Commerce
at the Island Fountain. The spec
ial meeting was called by Dr. Bob
Johnson, president of the group,
to consider the question of tax
evaluation.
In his speech, Poland outlined
the methods used by the City in
arriving at the present tax struc
ture. Tax evaluation, he said ,is
based on the full and true value
of property, by methods recognized
by the courts. He stated the recent
evaluation was made by a qualified
assessor because of the many in
equalities found in evaluating
property throughout the City.
“There was no unification be
tween assessed values placed on
one piece of property and that
next to it,” he said. The assessor
used a system universally accepted
by assessors and as outlined in a
manual, he stated. He described
briefly the qualifications of the
assessor who. he said, was impar
tial, and had a background in as
sessment work that qualified him
for the job.
The constructive value of prop
erty was used rather than the sell
ing or buying price, Poland stated.
He quoted instances where the
selling price of property did not
approximate its value. The con
structive value is the only fair one,
he said, particularly to meet local
conditions. The value to the owner
and the market value are too diver
gent for tax purposes, he said.
Poland brought out that follow
ing the method of basing evalua
tions on replacement cost and
equalizing values, has resulted in
raising taxes for some and lower
ing them for others. Referring to
the mill rate, Poland stated that
taxes were lowered this year.
Referring to a statement by a
lady member of the audience, who
injected at this point that her taxes
were higher this year, Poland
stated: “If your taxes were raised,
your taxes heretofore were quite
possibly too low.” The City Mana
ger said the new assessments and
evaluations were not to get more
revenue for the City, as commonly
believed.
Of the 8205,000 realized from
taxes, Poland stated, the Indepen
dent School District gets $95,000.
$25,000 goes to a payment on obli
gations incurred during the build
ing of Aleutian Homes. The re
maining $85,000 is what the City
operates on. It was at this point
that he predicted no increase in
the present mill rate. “By our
present program of effecting econ
omies in operating City business,
the mill rate can go down rather
than up in the future, despite ris
ing costs.” he stated, the taxable
value of the City is $12 million, he
said, up $2 million from the previ
ous year. Taxes are based on 85%
of the full and true value of prop
erty, he said.
Jack Hinckel. former councilman
I
and mayor of Kodiak, voiced dis
satisfaction with the valuations
placed on property by the assessor.
“There is nothing wrong with the
system,” he said. “It’s identical
with the method used in previous
years. But I think you got a bum
deal this time (referring to the
assessor). There are a lot inequali
ties where property has been im
properly appraised.” He mentioned
specific instances. Hinckel asked
if the City thought the evaluation
equitable. ‘‘Or do you intend to
review them?” Poland answered
that the Council will continue to
sit as a Board of Equalization, but
that no general revision is planned.
Union Curtails
Hiring Servicemen
The question of hiring service
men on a part-time basis by local
residents was discussed at the
Base-Town meeting held at the
City Hall Tuesday afternoon.
The question arose several weeks
ago when Carpenter Union officials
objected to the hiring of the serv
icemen on a job, stating it was
depriving local carpenters of work.
Capt. Nathan Lincoln, Command
ing Officer on the Naval Station,
made it clear in discussing the
matter at the meeting, that he did
not want this to happen, and said
he would make every effort to see
that the men from the station who
accept jobs in town are hired only
when there is no local help avail
able.
Forms are being made up, he
stated, for a resident to sign when
hiring base personnel, in which he
states that no other help is avail
able. Capt. Lincoln stressed the
point that hiring of servicemen
can be beneficial both to the serv
icemen and town people. “These
men in many cases fill a need that
cannot otherwise be met,” he said.
He cited the canneries and city
dock as instances, where at times
no other help is available.
It was pointed out by members
of the committee that as far as is
known, all carpenters who are re
liable and good workers are pres
ently employed. “They never want
for a job,” one member stated.
It was stated that Rep. Peter
Peveau brought a Union and State
government official here recently
investigating hiring practices. It
was felt by the majority of mem
bers present that differences of
this nature could be resolved on a
local level.
Among other matters discussed,
Capt. Lincoln reported that bad
debts incurred by service person
nel with local merchants has been
reduced to a minimum. He stated
that the cooperation of military
officials here will be given any
merchant who has difficulty in col
lecting just debts incurred by
military personnel.
BIRTHDAY CAKE A NATURAL
Little Marlin Patricia Scroggin
was one year old Thursday, Sept.
15. Her father baked her a cake.
That was easy for him — he’s a
baker by trade.
Rainbow Girls To
Install Officers
Installation of officers of the
Rainbow Girls will be held at the
Masonic Temple Sunday, begin
ning at 2 p.m. Installing officer is
Joan Benson.
The following officers will be
installed: Worthy Advisor, Peggy
Heglin; Worthy Associate Advisor,
Luana Garoutte; Charity, Brocklyn
Zehe; Hope, Beth Aeheson; Faith,
Polly Perry; Recorder, Audrey
Beck; Love, Carolyn Roekstad; Re
ligion, Svea Breckberg; Nature,
Elana Ross; Immortality, Donna
Shields; Fidelity, Judy Walker;
Patriotism, Marya Springhill; Serv
ice, Candy Wilson; Drill Leader,
Judy Brooks; Chaplain, Connie
Short; Confidential Observer, Lin
da Beck; Outer Observer, Jeanie
Brunstad; Bible Bearer, Pamela
Clemens; Musician, Anne Hall; and
Rainbow Dream-man, Danny Olsen.
The group was honored this
week by a visitation from Barbara
Orker, Grand Worthy Advisor;
Nancy Morrill, Grand Representar
five to Illinois; and Sandre Mauer,
a Rainbow Girl with the group.
JJ*P; Ralph Rivers
On Campaign Tour
wmTiel^V RiVer ^Alaska,
Federal to, bof°rLab^rAcSka S‘a‘e
there. Cabor Convention
»Tr, Se|>fembei' 22 and Oo
fc„A hep ""iviait Ketchikan,
Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau
nkagnWay' Hc wU1 th«'
will V Anchorage, where he
o* iar
«j;r
5*"-. William Beltz
Critically |||
ANCHORAGE (JP, _ state Sen
^ skTsen1^ President of the
AJasJca Senate, has been n™
nounced incurable by doctors.
“■<rom Una
thp n of' tZ 18 ^Pitalized in
iant hr!6 ,°SPital 1,ere W<U> malig.
t” e flolr" ,Tr He co,,apsed on
h, f l00rJ1°f the senate March 18
but condition was attributed to
erwork and exhaustion. His con
dition is now critical.
Death Comes To
Mike Augustine
Mike Augustine, a Naval Station
employee for many years, passed
away this morning (Friday) at the
station hospital.
The deceased leaves to survive
him his wife, Kay, a daughter,
Teresa, and two sons, Gary and
Michael.
SEATON VISIT POLITICAL
ANCHORAGE (/P) — The White
House officially denied that Secre
tary of the Interior Seaton’s trip
to Alaska was official business,
despite a public statement by Sea
ton that he came to Alaska to swear
in the new manager of the Alaska
Railroad, and not here for political
purposes. “Trip was not made at
taxpayer’s expense,” the statement
read.
Pictured above are left to right, Gary S. Crawford, PN2, and Louis
H. Sparks, ACT2, who with Robert Hoylman, ACT3, were missing
for 14 days, but returned safely last Wednesday. Story and addi
tional pictures will be found on page 2. Photos by Ameigh
Salmon Pack Double That of Last Year,
Escapement Good, Fishermen Gain
The final report on fishing in
the Kodiak area for this year re
veals a substantial gain over last
year in the canned salmon pack.
The total pack for the season
was 404,928% cases for all species
of salmon. The total pack last year
was 193,933 cases for all species.
The big pack was made despite
the fact that the fish on the aver
age were smaller this year. The
pack would have been much great
er if the fish caught had main
tained their normal size. With no
traps operating, the yield to fish
ermen was greater also. Twenty
two traps operated in this area in
1958.
The breakdown as to species
packed was a follows: 161 cases
kings; 27,862% cases of reds; 4,758
cases of cohoes; 273,306 pinks. In
New Books Added
To City Library
A number of science fiction
books have been added recently
to the Kodiak Public Library.
Titles and the authors are as
follows: Island in the Sky, by
Arthur C. Clarke; The Lost Planet,
by Paul Dallas; Step to the Stars,
by Lester del Rey; The Star Seek
ers, by Milton Lesser; The Ant
Men, by Eric North; Mists of Dawn,
by Chad Oliver; Vandals of the
Void, by Jack Vanee; Battle on
Mercury, by Erik van Lhin; Sons
of the Ocean Deep, by Bryce Wal
ton; The Secret of Saturn’s Rings,
by Donald A. Wollheim.
Former Alaska
Publisher Passes
SEATTLE (/P)—Richard T. Bush
ell, longtime Washington and Alas
ka newspaper publisher, died in
Auburn, south of here, Wednesday
at the age of 87. A native of Hull,
England, Bushell came to the
northwest in 1889, and established
the first newspaper at Wrangell
and Ketchikan.
CAP To Meet
The Civil Air Patrol unit here
will hold its regular meeting for
the month, Thursday, September
22, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The
meeting will be held at the Na
tional Ouard Armory.
other processing, 553,945 pounds of
salmon were frozen and salted.
Escapement generally was good
in the whole area, according to
Bob Simon, ADF & Game biologist
here. This was particularly true
of the pinks, he said. Commercial
salmon fishing season closed this
week in the Kodiak area.
Pack Tops 1959
Throughout State
JUNEAU (/P) — The statewide
salmon pack last week was 13,707
cases, making total for the yean*
through last Sunday 2,530,275
cases, the State Department of
Fish and Game announced.
This was far above a comparable
pack last year when 1,723,348 cases
were packed through September
13.
The 1960 Southeastern pack
through September 11 was 302,947
cases, with 137,196 pnks. Central
Alaska pack was 1,182,636 cases,
with 523,324 cases of pinks. The
Western Alaska red pack of 889,
655 cases was the biggest part of
the 1,044,692 cases packed in that
area through Sunday.
New PNA Schedule
New Pacific Northern Airlines
flight schedules go into effect
October 1.
Flight 7, the direct flight from
Seattle, leaves for Kodiak at 7 a.m.,
arriving at Kodiak at 10:40 a.m.
The direct flight will depart Ko
diak at 12:30 for Seattle arriving
there at 7:55 p.m.
The PNA morning flight to An
chorage. flight 17 will leave here
daily at 11:05 a.m. Flight 11, the
afternoon flight, will leave at 5
p.m.
Both of the above fights will
make connections with PNA flights
from Anchorage to Seattle.
Vickerys Return
Chief of Police Roland Vickery
and family returned to Kodiak
after an extended tour of the
United States by car.
Covering more than 13,000 miles,
the Vickerys visited in Florida
and returned via the Alaska High
way, The family returned Saturday
and Chief Vickery on Sunday.