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Problem Corner is an iconic radio show that has become a vibrant community hub. Callers engage in a wide array of discussions, ranging from local political debates to community commentary and casual advertisements for listeners looking to buy, sell, or trade personal items.
The show's rich history is marked by its association with several prominent local figures. Notably, Dennis Egan, a former mayor of Juneau, was a key personality in shaping the show's direction in the 1980s.
As a testament to its enduring relevance and appeal, "Problem Corner" has etched its name in the annals of Alaskan broadcasting history. It's not just a radio show but a cultural landmark, celebrated for being the longest-running radio show in Alaska.
Welcome
Speaker 2:to problem corner, Alaska's longest running radio show. Connect and discuss the topics important to Juneau and all of Southeast Alaska. Call (907) 586-1800, and subscribe to the podcast at kinyradio.com, powered by Princess Cruise Lines, Alaska Laundry and Dry Cleaning, and Juno Power Sports.
Speaker 3:And good morning, Juno, KINY ninety four point nine FM and Always eight hundred. It is Tuesday Problem Corner. Know what that means? We have
Speaker 4:Kenny Solomon Gross, your Tuesday host.
Speaker 3:Our Tuesday host, and I'm Justin Miller here hanging out, man and the board today. Man, it's going be a packed full of Problem Corner today.
Speaker 4:We're going have a pretty busy Problem Corner today. So first half of the show, we're going to take calls and kind of have our discussion. In the second half of the call, We're gonna have
Speaker 3:Joe and Frank from Affordable Juno come on and talk about those ballot initiatives a little bit, because Thursday we had a definitely in-depth conversation, so it'd be nice to see or hear from many different sides of how that goes.
Speaker 4:Looking forward to having guests in the studio, so it'll be fun.
Speaker 3:I know, it's always a little different problem corner. We have more folks here in the studio, so if you have any questions for our folks from Affordable Juno, the second half of the program will be the time to do that, and we will take your guys' calls. So if we're in the middle of a conversation, we'll segue out of it and we'll take your calls in the second half. But as always, you're welcome to give us a call 586-1800. So over the weekend, we had quite the event going on over at a Derek Kennedy field.
Speaker 4:That's pretty amazing. I cannot believe that out of, I think it was 16,000 entries that yes, not ESPN. NBC. NBC picked Douglas Bears, you know, to come here and do our filming crew to film our football team.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was really cool. I was here in the studio manning the board for that game and just getting the play by play from Dan Ho and Will Dapsovich, and it was definitely quite the event for sure.
Speaker 4:So I'm not going
Speaker 5:to lie to you, I
Speaker 4:did not go. And the reason why I didn't go is because I'm a fair weather guy and it was just pouring.
Speaker 3:Oh, there's puddles on the field from So what I
Speaker 4:I was able to listen to Will and Dan on the radio and it was, I drove by there several times. My theater's right across the street pretty much from there. And it was just pouring rain. So I feel like the film crew actually really got the Juno experience.
Speaker 3:Oh, did. And Dan was telling me he was able to meet up with a drone operator from NBC and did do some B roll with them. So he got to see how it went and how everything worked as far as like getting the drone in the sky and then getting some shots from that. And so, yeah, definitely be on the lookout for your face coming up in that Super Bowl promo from NBC Sports.
Speaker 4:That's gonna be super. You know, it's gonna be makes me I I mean, I always watch the Super Bowl. I'm a big sports fan. You guys all know that. But it makes me, like, wanna watch the pregame show on NBC just to see Juno.
Speaker 3:Definitely. And it looks like we do got a call, so let's get him on
Speaker 4:the show. Great. Good morning. You're live and on the air on Problem Corner.
Speaker 6:Hey. Yeah. Good morning, Problem Corner.
Speaker 4:Good morning. How are
Speaker 6:you? I was wondering
Speaker 5:if
Speaker 6:anybody out there was looking to have their gutters cleaned of all the leaves or winter's coming. If you have a trailer that needs to be scourging, I could probably do that and other things that handyman would do.
Speaker 4:So how how are you doing, Charles? Are you you're still
Speaker 6:Oh, well, I'm on five weeks now.
Speaker 4:Very good. Oh, right on.
Speaker 6:I'm working on job. I wanna go back to work. I'm doing great. So, If you really can afford it, name me your price. I'll come and work something out.
Speaker 4:That's fine. Well.
Speaker 6:Get out there and move stuff.
Speaker 4:I tell you something. I really, I'm really glad to hear your voice sounding so strong again, Charles.
Speaker 6:Well, thanks. The MAC number, if you want, works on 4195262. Thank you, and have a good day.
Speaker 3:Of course. Thanks for calling in, Charles. Have a good one.
Speaker 4:So he does handyman work, you know? He'll he'll clean your gutters out. He'll clean your trailer, your skirting, your things like that, you know? And and Charles is a really good guy. He's been sober now for five weeks.
Speaker 4:I feel like we're part of it because he called us, you know.
Speaker 3:At two weeks.
Speaker 4:At two weeks. At two weeks. So it's so good. So, and Charles will work with you if you don't have a lot of money, he'll work with you to help get your project done. Give Charles a call at 419-5262.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is that time to start prepping to winterize your home and making sure everything's all good to go for the potential snowfall.
Speaker 4:It's going to happen.
Speaker 3:I know up north, they do that little raffle with the Nenana River of when it's going on. We should do something here on Provinc Corner, maybe when the first snowfall is supposed to happen, maybe we could give some prizes out, maybe some gift cards or something like Movie tickets.
Speaker 4:Always say we're gonna get our first snowfall before Thanksgiving, not before Thanksgiving, before Halloween. So I think it's going to happen.
Speaker 3:I'm
Speaker 4:cold to my bone, I guess, this last few days with this weather is just kind of going right through you. This rain and it's just so damp outside.
Speaker 3:It's getting it's fall time officially now. It's Nolan. We had that last bit of summer in August, but then yeah. Now we're now we're full on fall. We do have another call.
Speaker 3:Hi. Welcome to Problem Corner. You're live and on the air.
Speaker 7:Hi. I'm looking for Amy Riley. If she is listening, call (945) 723-1399. 7. UPS dropped a package off at my place with her name on there.
Speaker 7:So. Thank you.
Speaker 4:So your number one more time is (945) 723-1399. Is that correct?
Speaker 7:Yes.
Speaker 4:And you're looking for Amy Riley because UPS dropped a package off at your house.
Speaker 7:Yeah. It was in outside my daughter when I came home. I've been trying to get ahold of her for, like, about a week now.
Speaker 4:Well, great. We'll pass this along. We'll we'll do a couple of calls out today to make sure that we can get this to Amy. If anybody knows Amy, make sure you let him know to to give this gentleman a call at (945) 723-1399.
Speaker 7:907.
Speaker 4:907.
Speaker 7:Yes. 723-1399.
Speaker 4:Alright. Well, thank you, sir.
Speaker 5:Alright.
Speaker 4:It's always good to have good people in the community that
Speaker 3:I know it's such a common thing. Like sometimes when you're ordering stuff and you're either typing too fast or entering too fast, all it takes is one number change and then it ends up somewhere completely And I know depending on where you order from, it doesn't allow you to change your address. Like my girlfriend just had an issue with that, where she was trying to order something and just accidentally put the wrong number in, but she had to call, they had to call the actual spot, like Sweetwater. She ordered some equipment from Sweetwater and she had to actually call to change the address. So sometimes it's not as easy to change that address when you're shipping or ordering things.
Speaker 4:Very interesting. So we got any emails today?
Speaker 3:No new emails I could see what happened yesterday. Something about the Seahawks, which we are airing over on our sports station. Someone is looking to sell a 1997 Chevy Cheyenne pickup plow truck. It's a fixer upper, but some recent work into it, but reverse is a little sketchy plows electrical issues, but otherwise worked last year. Fall project for someone before the snow comes are asking 2,500 or best offer.
Speaker 3:You can reach them at (907) 723-0766, if you're interested in that '97 Chevy Plow Truck.
Speaker 4:If you're a mechanic, you know, I think it's a pretty good deal. Yeah, know. It's strong, sturdy truck.
Speaker 3:We got a lot of people who like to wrench on vehicles here in town, so I'm sure someone will snag that. Absolutely. So after our first commercial break, which is coming up here in less than fifteen minutes, we'll be having Joe and Frank from Affordable Juno coming on just to give you guys another teaser. So if you have any questions or any insight or opinions you want to throw out for this ballot initiative that just got in our mails, if you have yet to get it in your mail, I don't know who do you reach out to if you didn't get it.
Speaker 4:Right now you can vote at City Hall. So you can go downtown and vote live at City Hall, always you can vote in the Mendenhall Mall, the annex area there. So I think if you didn't get your ballot, I would do that. I would just go down there and vote and get it over with. My wife and I, we both got our ballots in the mail yesterday.
Speaker 4:It came in our post office box, so she's pretty efficient. She filled it out, so we're all ready to go.
Speaker 3:Good deal. Yeah, still need to get mine because I don't have a mailbox at my place, so it's got to be all shipped to my family's house.
Speaker 8:Oh really?
Speaker 4:Well, I get mine and then I sit at it and I think about it and think about it and think about it. I haven't done mine yet. My wife does. She's pretty organized and way more efficient than me.
Speaker 3:Got it done right away. Yeah, that'll be the time to call in if you have any questions or just want to get stuff off your chest about any of the ballot initiatives. I know this morning we had Ben Brown hop on for the Chamber of Commerce for and Capitol the chamber's got some stuff going on as far as being able to sit down and kind of talk a little bit more about those initiatives. I know they're having a few forums where you can sit down with some of the assembly members here soon. A lot of things that get your voice heard.
Speaker 4:And, you know, Katie, was it Friday? It
Speaker 3:was Friday.
Speaker 4:She had Michelle Hale talking on one side of the ballot initiatives. And today we're going to have Frank and Joe, they're going to come in and talk. I think it's really great that we're able to give both sides of this initiative because I really think that our voters really need to be informed. This is important. This is so important.
Speaker 3:That's the beauty of Problem Corner. We could get both sides on and your opinions out there. So as always, give us a call if you have anything you want to say, sell or just get off your chest. (907) 586-1800. I did want to jump back to the football chat though because we kind of left that as we were getting phone calls.
Speaker 3:But it's going be really cool. Like my girlfriend's daughter was at the game and I picked her up after the game from leaving the studio and she was telling me that the camera was up all over her. That a lot of people had a camera being shown at him. So obviously with film crews and I've dealt I've worked in TV and film a little bit, so many different like clips and pieces that the crew will have to go through. So fingers crossed that if you had a camera in your face during that game, get in you there.
Speaker 3:So it'll be very interesting to see who
Speaker 4:got it highlighted. Coach Soros will be on. I'm sure the coach from Diamond will be on, too. Like, I'm sure they're gonna interview Dano. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 4:And so it'll be great. You're gonna see a lot of people in Juneau, a lot of familiar faces. And and, you know, it's it's very interesting because, you know, you think of Texas or you think of Arkansas or Alabama as Friday night lights, you know? Yeah. That's where that's where football's at.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And for us, Juno, to get highlighted on the Super Bowl, it's just going to be so good for our town to see that, hey, we really do love our football. I mean, this is, you know, for youth in this in this town, sports is really important. Basketball is huge, you know? And and then as you you know, one thing you have another outlet here in Juneau. If you play basketball, you can play basketball till you're 60 years old.
Speaker 3:I know, it's great.
Speaker 4:Because you know, you're gold medal. You can be any age, any age and still play. I can still play. Your dad can still play.
Speaker 3:I haven't picked up a basketball in I think almost ten years. Really? Yeah, well, played ball through my life. I played basketball elementary, middle school, and then my freshman, sophomore year for Juno Douglas, and then after that, I was like, it's time to shift gears. And then that's when I went up and started smacking the drums on Pep Banner, bringing the hype for the b ball players coming out on the court.
Speaker 3:And I enjoyed that a lot.
Speaker 4:That's awesome. My son always played baseball. I mean, my kids, they all played all the sports, but baseball was a sport. Now he's in Vegas and he told me yesterday, he says, I'm playing adult baseball.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 4:So he said, I can't believe I'm 35 years old and it's the first time I've hit him with a wooden bat.
Speaker 3:Nice. So
Speaker 4:he played his first game, he said he got a hit and an RBI, so that's kind of awesome.
Speaker 3:We did get an email. Oh, great. Maybe we could address this again later, but here's the email. On the subject of mail in ballots, I live in an apartment complex here in Douglas, recently moved into an apartment that had five people in it. I just received five ballots for the election.
Speaker 3:I would think one could simply drop the ballots in as if they filed them. What can be done?
Speaker 4:Well, you know, the city's been working on this for a while. This has been an issue for at least the last five years. I mean, mail in elections started when COVID happened. You know, before that, was like if you needed an absentee ballot, you called in and they would send you one. And now it's mail in ballots.
Speaker 4:So people are saying, hey, I'm getting five ballots for people that used to live here. But those ballots aren't being mailed somewhere else. That's why I really encourage people to go vote in person. Go to City Hall, go to Mendenhall Mall, the annex there, vote. I don't really know what you can do about that.
Speaker 4:I think people, they have to re register when they move and people aren't doing that, so all these ballots are being shipped out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then they have their names on them, so you can't really obviously that's illegal if
Speaker 4:you fill
Speaker 3:out all of those ballots that showed up at your mail. So I guess the best thing to do is either hop on Facebook, reach out, like throw the names out there and say, Hey, I got these such and such people's ballots out in my mail. If you want your ballot, come pick it up.
Speaker 4:This is, like you say, this is probably a subject that we could talk about later on. But it's definitely a problem because if you get five ballots and if someone is sketchy, you don't want them voting those ballots. There is indicators that you have to indicate that you're yourself, social your security number, your driver's license, something like that. So you'll have to know that information on the person. But still, five ballots in the mailbox.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that potentially won't be voted, or counted, which is kind of a bummer, which is kind of, I know that's kind of been the discussion with the mail in stuff, or it's like Yeah, I'm using my hands. You guys can't even see me use my hands of like juggling stuff, but just like
Speaker 4:You can tell Justin's a drummer. Hey, you know, I wanted to ask you a question. So, you know, we've talked about you're really into music. And what kind of music do you like? What's your genre?
Speaker 3:I'm all over the board as far as music goes. Most of the time when I sit down, it's pretty progressive rock or progressive metal, where it deals with different time signatures. Like one time you'll be playing fourfour, and all of a sudden the song will switch up and then you're playing six. And then sometimes we would switch up and we're playing seven time signature. And I like those songs that really make me think as a drummer, like I have to pay attention.
Speaker 3:I can't just go into autopilot mode and just like play a groove. It happens to me so much where I'm just playing drums and I'm like zoning out and thinking about something else, and then I zone back in. It's like, Was I playing in Beat this whole time? It's like when you go in this autopilot moments while you're driving, it's like, you zone out, and it's like, Oh wait, I'm driving a car. It's kind of like that feeling almost, so I like things that keep my brain engaged.
Speaker 3:So progressive metal or heavy metal, stuff that makes me use all my limbs. So that's usually what I go for most of the time. I dabble, I play jazz, I play fusion jazz, Latin music, pop music, hip hop. So most of the time when I sit down and play on my own, it's usually progressive metal.
Speaker 4:Actually that would have been my guess that you're a metal guy. Yeah. So like right now, what's your favorite band?
Speaker 3:Right now, I've been listening to the Home Team a lot recently, which is kind of this kind of pop The best way I could describe them is like progressive pop metal because the vocal, there's no screaming vocals in it. It's very pop oriented vocals, but it's very heavy music behind it. So that's the best way I could describe it. They're a band based out of Seattle, but they're making their way up in the scene right now. So I've been really gravitating towards those guys lately.
Speaker 3:I don't know what music have you been listening to, Kenny?
Speaker 4:God, you know, have to think about that for a minute. But I do listen to all kinds of music, but I'm more of a classic rock guy, so I listen to that. Did go to a Teddy Swims concert. I don't know
Speaker 3:if you're
Speaker 4:familiar with Teddy Swims. Do like that. I'm not into the heavy metal, but I actually definitely like music with a beat. But I do really like a lot of the old classic rock. Oh, good.
Speaker 4:Know, Eddie Money, that kind of stuff like that.
Speaker 3:When I think classic rock, I think have always to use Led Zeppelin as an option. But yeah, I like Zeppelin, Pink Floyd.
Speaker 4:Queen is my favorite I've group of all seen Adam Lambert with Queen, which is just incredible. Saw that Washington, D. C. So I just got a text from the mayor and she told me that we should play basketball together.
Speaker 3:You and I should play basketball
Speaker 4:together? Well, think Beth and I. Oh, you and Beth play basketball. She said it'd be hilarious.
Speaker 3:That would be great. I would love to watch that.
Speaker 4:I think that'd be great. Beth, I want to be on your team, though. Don't want to play against you.
Speaker 3:That would be an interesting thing. A community leader basketball tournament. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And it would be great to have Madame Mayer and myself and maybe get Katie, you know, Kester on the team too. I think that'd be super.
Speaker 3:Juno Lions Club, if you're listening right now, let's make it happen for this next gold medal tournament. Let's have a community leaders basketball game go on during the tournament. I think that'd be awesome.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna go have to do some wind sprints. Gotta get my wind
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, I can't even imagine sprinting right now. Like I went on a run around the block just the other day and it was tough.
Speaker 4:Well, had some neck surgeries. I'm a pretty avid bike rider and I haven't ridden my bike in about a year.
Speaker 3:I just got checked off from Juno Bono Joint yesterday that I could start doing things normally again after breaking myself back in May. So I'm hoping to pop on a bike a little bit this fall before the snow hits.
Speaker 4:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:It looks like it's time to take our first commercial break, folks. And we'll have Joe and Frank from Affordable Juno Pop here in the studio and phone lines will be wide open for you guys to call in with any sort of questions, concerns or opinions about these ballot initiatives.
Speaker 4:That's great. And you know, Justin, this is an excellent opportunity for them to call and talk to the people from Affordable Juno and ask the questions about the ballot initiatives, because they really help push these initiatives forward.
Speaker 3:They do. So we'll be let's take this call real quick before we take our commercial break. Hi. Welcome to Problem Corner. You're live and on the air.
Speaker 9:Yeah. I'd like to know how people feel about the time change coming up.
Speaker 3:Is it daylight savings time coming up?
Speaker 4:Actually, it's actually, we're going back to standard time. Oh. Is it it's in the November. Is that right? The
Speaker 9:second, I think.
Speaker 4:Second week in November. You know, there there's been talk around, like, Juneau Juneau used or excuse me, not Juneau. Alaska used to have, like, a whole bunch of different time zones.
Speaker 5:Oh,
Speaker 4:really? Anchorage had a different time zone. Juneau had a different time zone, and they all got Alaska all on the one time zone. But there's been a big controversy around the country to put the country, just leave it on standard time zone. Arizona doesn't change.
Speaker 4:Mhmm. So, you know, I have mixed feelings about it. I mean, I I really like the extra daylight in the summertime, but I you know, the dark, it's it's very dark in the wintertime, so I I I have mixed feelings. What do you feel about it, sir?
Speaker 9:I haven't changed in three years, so I don't really care. I stay on daylight savings time year round.
Speaker 4:Oh, you do?
Speaker 9:And from an hour late, I don't worry about it.
Speaker 4:You must be retired.
Speaker 5:Probably.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Probably. Well, that's great. Well, I I I like that methodology he's got there, don't you?
Speaker 9:He's he's retired. Let's get him to do it
Speaker 4:for us. Yeah. There you go. That's super. Well, thank you, sir, for the call.
Speaker 4:You got any more things for us?
Speaker 5:Yeah. I just think it
Speaker 9:anybody who don't want to change time shouldn't have to. And if they want to send the FBI out to me, oh, go ahead.
Speaker 4:That's great.
Speaker 9:Somebody ought to feed me anyway. Well,
Speaker 4:you, sir. We're about to take our break, so hopefully you'll listen to our next segment. Appreciate it.
Speaker 9:All right. You guys enjoy yourselves.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Bye.
Speaker 3:Bye bye. Alright. We'll be back with more problem corner here on KINY.
Speaker 2:Come in. Stay local. KINY, eight hundred AM and ninety four point nine FM. Local owned and operated. KINY, the news you need, the music you love.
Speaker 10:ABC News. I'm Michelle Fransen. During his address at the UN General Assembly, president Trump questioning the role of the United Nations and efforts, it says, to end conflicts around the world. Afterwards, the president meeting with the UN secretary general, pledging US support for the UN.
Speaker 11:Our country is behind The United Nations a 100%. I think the potential of the United Nations is incredible, really incredible. It can do so much. So, I'm behind it. I may disagree with it sometimes, but I I am so behind it because I think the the potential for peace with this institution is so great.
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Speaker 2:Now back to problem corner where our community meets to talk, trade, and share.
Speaker 3:And welcome back to problem corner here on KINY. I'm Justin Miller joining you as well as
Speaker 4:Kenny Solomon Gross, your Tuesday host.
Speaker 3:Your Tuesday host. And we have our guests here in the studio. We have Joe Geldof and Frank Bertram. Thank you guys so much for joining us today on Problem Corner.
Speaker 8:Nice to be here.
Speaker 4:That's great. So what's great about having Joe and Frank in here today is they're going to really tell their side of what's going on for affordable Juno and what it's like. So why don't we start with Frank? You want to introduce yourself and talk a little bit about the three ballot initiatives?
Speaker 21:You bet. Well, actually, we're here because Juneau is a
Speaker 3:little bit
Speaker 21:unaffordable. Change the word there a little bit on you. And we're seeing that the cost of living here in Juneau is really getting up there. We're seeing people moving out. We're having businesses, small businesses that are losing customers.
Speaker 21:And it's just time that we did something about that. We got to lower the cost of living here so that we can grow our economy, keep people here, keep small families here, keep big families here, keep small business here, refill our schools, and have an economy, and just maintain the town.
Speaker 4:That's true. That's exactly what's happening. I mean, stagnant population here in Juneau is
Speaker 21:I wish it was stagnant. The darn thing's going down. We're down 2,000 people over here the last few years.
Speaker 4:Oh, wow. And we lost a high school, you know, we lost a high school too.
Speaker 21:Yeah, we built it and then we emptied it. That's kind of a crazy deal.
Speaker 4:You know, food prices are skyrocketing, 30% increase since the pandemic. That's just crazy.
Speaker 21:You know, transportation is a thing here in remote Southeast Alaska with no road link, is transportation enters into every financial equation you have. How's your food? You brought up food. How does
Speaker 3:that get here?
Speaker 21:It gets on the barge, gets here on an airplane. How do cars get here? Well, they have to float up here on a boat. How does energy get up here? How does fuel get here?
Speaker 21:Gets on a barge. So everything comes by a circuitous route,
Speaker 4:all
Speaker 21:of which is controlled by just a limited number of operators. And, know, God bless them for doing it, God bless AML for bringing stuff in, but without competition, cost goes up.
Speaker 4:Yep. And you know, if we miss a barge, you go look at our grocery aisles, you know, they're empty. There was no half and half at there's actually no milk period at Foodland this week. This last week we
Speaker 8:just You shouldn't be drinking half and half anyway, Kenny.
Speaker 4:I wasn't drinking it straight, Joe. So do you want to talk about each initiative separately? Do you want to do that or how do you how do you want to do this, Frank?
Speaker 21:Sure. Let's just start at the top. We got one, two and three. Number three is not something that we're terribly interested in, but we need to talk about it because it's all
Speaker 4:part of
Speaker 21:the big package. So the number one, Joe, did you want to jump in here?
Speaker 8:I feel like I'm monopolizing the microphone. Sure. Ballot Measure one lowers the millage rate from 12 to nine, and that will be in the charter. Now nine is exactly almost exactly where the general government services are provided for anyway. There's a lot of misinformation being spun out by people that somehow we're going to drop it from twelve to nine and it's going to cause chaos.
Speaker 4:Can ask you a question? So when you say drop it from twelve to nine, is right now the max it could go is twelve? Is that what you're you're
Speaker 21:talking about is the cap. So there's a cap
Speaker 4:of 12
Speaker 21:on the operational part of the of the mill rate.
Speaker 4:Because our mill rate this
Speaker 5:year was
Speaker 21:two four. Our
Speaker 4:mill rate right now is actually 10.4.
Speaker 8:Servicing. And the measure ballot measure one does not cap the ability of the city and borough to incur debt. Now it it does require that the citizens vote on increased debt, like, through a bond.
Speaker 21:Mhmm. But right now been that way. It's always been.
Speaker 8:Yeah. Yeah. The the millage rate that goes to general government services right now is right about nine. So we're we're the proposal from Affordable Juno is to maintain the status quo. So all this hysteria you're hearing about, we're gonna have to cut, cut, cut.
Speaker 4:It's basically false. So so right now our our mill rate is 10.4. Is that correct? Yes.
Speaker 8:But that includes debt service.
Speaker 4:So so if you cut it to 9 and it's 10.4, where would the debt services come from then? How would
Speaker 7:Oh, that
Speaker 21:we've got a miscommunication here.
Speaker 4:So maybe, yeah, maybe
Speaker 21:Yeah. So basically the service right now, I mean, excuse me, the mill rate right now is made up of components. We have the operational part, which is nine, nominally nine, and then as Joe said, you got the debt service on top of that, and then you get you up to your 10.4 or whatever it is. So now we're going to limit it, since now it's 9 for operations and a little bit more for debt service. So if this passes, it'll be nine for operations and a little bit more for debt service.
Speaker 21:Same thing.
Speaker 8:We we specifically wrote the ballot measure one to not include debt servicing. And the reason we did that was because we didn't know how to punish the city and borough. We didn't wanna get into the city and borough's ability to propose a bonded indebtedness. So, you know, this notion that's being floated by some of the members of the assembly that somehow this is gonna cause great chaos, it's just false. Nine is where we're at now for general government services.
Speaker 8:And then you add on the debt servicing. We're not talking about eliminating debt servicing.
Speaker 21:Right. So the citizens of Juneau, if the assembly says, well, we need a new water tank for the water system, they say, well, let's do a bond issue. And then they ask the voters, would you like to fund a water tank for the water system? And then we can all vote on that and say, yeah, we'd like to have that, or no, we've already got 14 of those, we don't need a fifteenth. So it puts more power back into people's hands.
Speaker 4:That's really good. I haven't heard that explained that way about the debt servicing on that.
Speaker 8:Well, there's a lot of people who have a vested interest in causing confusion and chaos around here because they like spending money, and they've been spending money. And, know, government in Juneau, the local government, the scope and scale of government has actually increased significantly in the last decade. We've added positions.
Speaker 21:I think it's 30 positions. Isn't it?
Speaker 4:Something like that?
Speaker 8:It it it's significant. So, you know, there's been no belt tightening down at at city hall. You know, they always seem to find money to to put new people on the payroll. But this is luxurious. And and capping the millage rate at night is not gonna cut into water, sewer, public safety, and it won't even cut into really the the fun things.
Speaker 4:So so just as your general homeowner, I mean, we own homes Which we all are. Each other. Yeah. So would when I went to go pay my taxes this year, if it was capped at nine, would I be paying a mill rate at nine or would I be paying a mill rate at nine plus another 1.4% for debt services. The latter.
Speaker 4:You're paying basically the nine plus the debt servicing.
Speaker 21:So so you'd be the same. Your your taxes would would be the same.
Speaker 4:Taxes wouldn't go down really.
Speaker 8:And enactment of ballot measure one, basically, was designed to maintain the status quo. What it does is take away the ability of the city and borough without a vote to raise the millage rate from nine to 12 without any consideration. But it has nothing to do with debt servicing, really.
Speaker 21:Okay. And your property tax still could go up if the city said, like I said, the water tank. Let's go back to We that got to have that water tank, so let's have a bond issue and we'll finance that. Then and then that would come on to your property taxes, a slight increase in your mill rate, and and you would pay a higher tax because you voted on it and you supported it.
Speaker 8:But Kenny, remember that the millage rate is just part of
Speaker 4:the
Speaker 8:formula. Millage rate staying at nine, your taxes could still go up on the general services if your assessed value goes up. And assessed values for many people have been going up.
Speaker 4:So Absolutely. I'm the I'm on the BOE, so I absolutely know what's going on there.
Speaker 8:Yeah. But if assessed values go up, even capped at nine, the city and borough is going to get more money because the assessments go up and the assessments aren't something arbitrary. They have to be based on the full and true value of that state law.
Speaker 4:That's great. Alright. Let's go to ballot measure two. You wanna start off, Frank or Joe?
Speaker 8:Well, I think that's an easy one to get rid of because pretty much everybody, including the city mothers and fathers, are all saying vote yes on two. This is the one that would eliminate sales tax on groceries. This is the one that would eliminate sales tax on your utilities, water, sewage, and things like heating oil. It's a no brainer, and it's gonna pass. The issue is how it's related to the other two.
Speaker 21:Yeah, it's a classic example there is that we've just had an increase in the fee for our water and sewer. And the city is then going to charge a sales tax on the fee to get those services. So you just gotta think real hard about that. I gotta pay tax on the fee that I'm paying to the city to give me the service I need to live. No, that doesn't make logical sense.
Speaker 8:And Eckman, a ballot measure too, will make Juneau more affordable. Not just old people like me who get a tax break. If I pull out my card and I buy a T bone steak and some tofu, I don't have to pay sales tax on that. That's really unfair in some ways. A working family, a young mom, a young dad, they got three kids.
Speaker 8:Can you imagine having three teenage boys?
Speaker 4:No. I mean, yes, but no.
Speaker 8:So enactment of ballot measure two will make Juno affordable for everybody. And it will end the kind of odd policy where elderly people don't pay groceries.
Speaker 4:I guess guess the question that that people are bringing up on this one is, so if we're gonna lose 5% on on, you know, utilities, and we're gonna use lose 5% to the city on on food. That money goes for services for the community. Where where are we going to cut? Or what what are we going to do for that? I mean, you explain that a little bit?
Speaker 21:Consider the overall economics of you've got workers, people living in town. Okay? They're all they all have a job. Right. And they're all making a little bit of money.
Speaker 21:So there's there's so much money that's rolling around in the economy. What does government do? Government's going to pull some of that money out as taxes and do stuff with it. They can't do anything that the people aren't funding. Government doesn't fund anything.
Speaker 21:The people fund everything via tax. So if the government is going to pull some money out and do something that they want to do, that's nice. But maybe those people have got some serious things they'd like to do with their own money, like pay for the water, pay for the sewer, pay for the food, pay for energy, pay for travel, pay for schooling, pay for their home, pay for their car, for insurance. Did I already say insurance? Well, whatever.
Speaker 21:So there's all kinds of things. I did a little calculation here, and I just whipped this out last night. And, you know, an accountant can challenge me on that, and that's great. I'd love to have it. But I calculated that a family of four in Juneau here, owning their own home, would be paying about $6,000 a month in expenses.
Speaker 21:That's a salary of $86,000 a year before taxes. Now, how many people in Juneau are making $86,000 just to make their monthly expenses on an average house with a four person in the family, two kids, two adults? That's a huge dollar amount. So this is a fantastic show, and so I would just love to hear from whoever's out there, how comfortable are you as a citizen of Juneau in what you make versus what your expenses are in here in town? Because if this calculation is right, anybody who's making less than $86,000 has two kids at home, they're going in the hole.
Speaker 21:Well, that's
Speaker 4:why you got both parents are working, you know, that's for sure to be able to make a net like that.
Speaker 21:And then when they're both parents are working, you got add childcare on,
Speaker 3:and that's
Speaker 21:like a salary. So there
Speaker 3:you go.
Speaker 21:You've got a
Speaker 4:bad loop. So real quickly, Frank made a great point here. This is your show, so we really encourage some callers to give us a call at 586-1800 or shoot us an email if you don't want to get on the air and Justin will read that off. 586-1800.
Speaker 3:I think people are just more intense, like listening to us right now, they don't want to call in or I don't know. So, yeah, give us a ring. 975861800 if you wanna ask Well, Joe or Frank
Speaker 8:Frank came up with one way of looking at this. I'll give you another way of looking at this. The fear articulated by some of the folks down at the assembly and the staff is that, gee, we'll be short of money to spend. Last night, they spent a huge amount of money on the demolition of Telephone Hill, like upwards of $9,000,000 with no plan, none, to actually do redevelopment there. They also authorized expenditures of, I think, close to $12,000,000 to buy part of a building for the new city hall.
Speaker 8:And and that's just the upfront money, then they're gonna spend another $7,000,000 refitting it, and then they're still gonna have to get some more parking. So, you know, easily, they're spending 25 or close to $30,000,000 last night on things that they desire but aren't necessarily benefiting in an obvious way the citizens of Juno. So there's plenty of money down there. It's how it's allocated. It's a ways and means issue.
Speaker 21:It certainly wasn't benefiting anybody that was there to testify last night, which there were a lot of
Speaker 4:people in the testify. So we got we got a call. So let's go right to the phones.
Speaker 3:Hi. Welcome to Problem Corner. You're live and on the air.
Speaker 5:Awesome. How are you guys doing today?
Speaker 4:We're doing great.
Speaker 5:I'm I'm gonna be real quick so somebody else can call in, and I heard you think somebody call in. So here I am for you. Basically, I'm a yes, yes, no. And my two yeses on the first two ballot measures are essentially been mentioned while you guys are talking. The third one, voting no on it is because it makes that turn on, turn off two things.
Speaker 5:It's more sales tax collected. And two, it makes that sales tax permanent so we don't vote on it anymore. Anymore. I don't like that idea.
Speaker 4:That's a very good point.
Speaker 21:Yeah. Was very, very valid criticisms right there. Probably it's really good to kind of just look at some of the details of that proposal by the assembly. So it'd be a six month, six months deal. It's gonna go up to 7.5% summertime and down to three in winter.
Speaker 21:How much of that time are tourists here to actually pay that? Well, that whole time. Right?
Speaker 5:Yeah. No. I concur completely. I I don't think the other thing is I like that we get a vote on it. So we yes or no.
Speaker 5:Now whether I win or lose on that vote thing, I don't think it should be just put on permanently. But I like the I like the no cap, and I like the the no tax on groceries, heating oil, and electric.
Speaker 21:Yeah. It's it's a terribly regressive tax because everybody pays it right down to the lowest income people in town. Everybody pays that tax on food. And if you don't make a lot of money, your proportion of your income that goes to food goes up. So,
Speaker 5:Yeah. Alright. And the one other thing I'll say to you guys, you're talking about it costs $86,000 to raise a family with two kids and a wife. And, I'm a single male. I have two set jobs that I work year round, and I have a, little side hustle as well.
Speaker 5:And that's how I make ends meet. So I'm literally working, let's say, two and a half jobs. Now I do that because I like living here. And I think it's getting to the point where, I mean, we're losing population and the city wants more employees. Keeps going on and on and on, and I think time to tap break.
Speaker 5:I'm gonna leave you guys be, so someone else can call in. You have a wonderful day, and I appreciate your program, and I very much appreciate your guests.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Thank you for calling in today. Appreciate your your insight and your thoughtfulness. So let's talk about ballot measure three real quick.
Speaker 8:Absolutely. Ballot measure three is a gimmick that the city assembly and staff cooked up in reaction to one and two. They knew two is gonna pass, and it will. And they're so fearful that they won't have as much money in all these accounts. And the unreserved account that they have down there is a gigantic slush fund that they fool around with all the time and they make decisions in the committee of the whole and then they come in and rubber stamp it during the regular meetings.
Speaker 8:But ballot measure three is a gimmick. Most of the public understand that. It actually will increase the taxes. I mean, trying to fix up your boat in May. You need parts, you need paint, you know, and everything else.
Speaker 8:You're gonna get whacked with a 7% sales tax.
Speaker 4:Seven and a half. Seven and a half.
Speaker 8:So it's effectively a two and a half percent increase for doing your work in the summer when most people do a lot of yard work, you know, boat reconstruction and everything. It's a gimmick. It's gonna go down. And it's just a reaction instead of a thoughtful approach towards getting revenue for our community.
Speaker 4:You know, Ketchikan has seasonal sales tax too. I think it's five and a half in the the off season and it's like seven, seven and a half, I believe, in the in the season. So, it might not it might not be that high but they do have they have had that for the last few years and it's, you know, being as we had a small business there, so I know how hard that could be on a small business with the sales tax, the seasonal sales tax.
Speaker 21:Yeah, just the administrative load to have to switch everything around twice a year. Absolutely.
Speaker 4:You know, I know that the thought is that if the other two measures pass, they're going to have to figure out a way to make up some of that money. That's what Ballot Initiative three came on the ballot.
Speaker 21:But can you think about it? It's a good point. It needs to be addressed. But think about it a little bit over the last ten years. Property tax assessments have been going up nominally 10% a year for private property, personal property, as well as even more for commercial property.
Speaker 21:Inflation at that time has been below 2%, maybe three and a half during its peak. So it's three times to five times the rate of inflation. The city nominally lowered the mill rate during that period, but really ineffectively, it just left that alone. So they've been looking, and we've been enjoying a tremendous windfall of taxes to the city. Now, did the city put that into a savings account and said, you know, there might be some rainy days coming down the pike here.
Speaker 21:We're doing really good today, but maybe not so good tomorrow. No, they just spend it all.
Speaker 4:So the issue
Speaker 21:is spending. The issue is spending. Now that we've got this bloated budget and we're spending all that nice money because of this increase in the assessments, if the assessments go down or the mill rate goes down or sales tax goes down a little bit, we've had a benefit of high sales tax revenues as well. The city's spending can be elastic. There's no question about it.
Speaker 4:Don't they have funds like restricted funds that they can't touch? That's a pretty Well,
Speaker 3:course they do.
Speaker 8:So there's a lot of money that comes in on the the head tax, for example, on cruise ships. That is restricted by federal law. There's a lot of funds that come in for, like, the airport. And, you know, taking Bartlett Hospital, which you know intimately, Kenny, that's kind of a separate thing. You move that out.
Speaker 8:There's a money in money out. Right. But when you come down to the general core services, you know, cops, firefighters, you know, streets, we're fine. But there's a lot of money that goes on in terms of grants and things that are maybe desirable, but there is plenty of money down there. You The city of borough keeps saying, the assembly, that we're gonna have an income problem.
Speaker 8:We're gonna have a revenue problem. What they really have is a spending problem. And the people who really have an income problem are lower and middle class people who don't have the income to support the lavish spending by the city and borough assembly.
Speaker 21:As an example, in Wynn Greening's column here a couple weeks back, he summed up the records here. And over the last twelve years, $91,000,000 were given away by the city. 91,000,000 was given away as quote unquote charity.
Speaker 4:For like affordable housing, we gave money to
Speaker 21:Well, whatever. A lot of it's for housing stuff, but unfortunately, the unhoused in Juneau doesn't seem to be going down, but that's kind of a different, that's a whole another show But right any rate, the point is, just they've given away $91,000,000 nominally over a decade.
Speaker 8:Kenny, I, you know, there's a backbeat that comes from city hall all the time, like, well, where are you gonna cut? As if it's up to Frank Bergstrom or Joe Gelthoff or the Affordable Juno Coalition to to do that. That's a mug's game. And it's actually a cheesy political technique because what am I supposed to do? Say, oh, we're gonna not fund money for the symphony or, you know, something.
Speaker 8:Here's the thing. If you run for office, you're required to make some of the hard decisions. And they have had very lash, lavish expenditures and everything. And it's time to make some considered choices. Because for a community of really 28,000, because that's what we really are in terms of full time equivalent, we are spending way too much money on discretionary funds.
Speaker 8:And it's time to take a sober look at our budget and live within our means. That's true.
Speaker 4:So I, you know, we are running long on the show here. I'm going to turn it over to Justin. I'm sure he's going
Speaker 3:Yeah, greatly appreciate both of you guys popping on the program and giving us a little more in-depth insight on a lot of these ballot initiatives and honestly a different outlook on a lot of that. Like when we're talking about the ballot initiative, one now is a whole different look and narrative I've heard so far, I greatly appreciate that. I'm sure folks would do know as well. Again, thank you both Joe and Frank for joining us here on Problem Corners today.
Speaker 4:Thank you, guys. If I can talk to you guys for another hour.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 8:Vote like your income and your pocketbook depends on it, because it does.
Speaker 3:It does. Thank you guys again. Definitely. Well, I'll be opening up the phone lines tomorrow, all program. So definitely join me tomorrow on Problem Corner.
Speaker 3:Anything you guys want to say? And if you have if folks have a question or want to get in contact with you guys, what's the best way to do that?
Speaker 21:Well, let's see. What's our website? We can certainly go through First Things First website, ftfakfoundation.org. They're involved with this to some extent. So that's one place they can get ahold of
Speaker 3:us. Okay.
Speaker 4:All right.
Speaker 5:All
Speaker 8:right. Thanks. Nice being here. Thank
Speaker 3:you very much. Thank you, guys. And that's been Problem Corner here on KINY. You've
Speaker 2:been listening to Problem Corner, Alaska's longest running radio tradition presented each weekday by Alaska Laundry and Dry Cleaning. Join us every weekday at 11AM, and subscribe to the podcast at kinyradio.com.