The City of Bethel has a problem - it doesn’t know how much money it’s making, or not making, in sales tax. The city is also not enforcing violations.
Bethel City Council and city administration talked about a possible solution to the problem. Vice Mayor Byron Maczynski was the first to chime in.
“Seems like we’re constantly putting out bush fires. I think we need to jump on this one now, to stomp out one that’s already flaming," said Maczynski.
Maczynski supports the administration's plan to buy a new piece of software that could make it easier for the city to keep track of its tax collections.
The software is called Caselle, which Bethel currently uses, but Financial Director Hansel Mathlaw wants to pay more for increased services from the company. He basically wants the city to get a new app that he thinks would decrease his workload.
“The city of Bethel does not have a sales tax audit staff," said Mathlaw.
Mathlaw says he knows many businesses are not paying their taxes, but he is stuck dealing with organizational tasks. He says getting help is going to cost.
“To get one of those employees like that here, your gonna have to pay them a wage that’s competing against Kenai, or Anchorage, or any other city that’s on the rail belt," said Mathlaw.
This is a problem across city departments. Bethel officials say they can’t find qualified local applicants, and can’t get people to move here because they don’t have the money. In this case it could be cyclical. Less money from taxes means less income for the city, and less disposable cash to hire new employees
“If we’re having problems with a department the answer might be more accountability, not less," Council member Leif Albertson said. He says new software should only be a short-term solution.
Council member Zach Fansler explains:
“The finance department used to keep up with these things with the same amount of people. So what we really need to do is get caught up and have the same amount of people maintain," said Fansler.
Fansler and Albertson asked that administration commit to a three-month contract, but the council could not reach consensus on this.
One barrier is the idea that other companies should be able to bid on the contract to get a better deal for the city.
That could increase the stress in an already unbalanced department by bringing a new system online that doesn’t sync with the rest of the Caselle programs the city already uses.
Council member Nikki Hoffman urged other council members to approve the new software.
"It’s very obvious to the public that we’re struggling in our finance department and we need to give them the tools that they need to do their job." said Nikki Hoffman.
As for how much revenue the city was losing through not collecting sales tax, Bethel City Manager Ann Capela says it’s hard to know, and they don’t right now.
The council postponed passage of the purchase until its next meeting.