Homer, Alaska - Opinion

Ouch. The defeat of Tuesday's general obligation bond measure to help finance a new city hall/town square project certainly stings supporters of the project. But they shouldn't take the vote personally. As much as the stars may have been aligned for the project allowing the community to realize several goals, including consolidating the Kachemak Bay Campus to its Pioneer Avenue location, allowing city hall to leave its cramped quarters and getting a start on developing the heart of Homer in ways that make economic and environmental sense, there were just as many stars, maybe more, not in alignment.

Chalk it up to bad timing. It's hard to read a newspaper or listen to a newscast without mention of a possible recession. There's at least some uncertainty tied to what a new president will mean for the country. The price of gas is approaching $4 a gallon, and it's hard to think of anything which isn't costing more than it did a year ago.

While the mill rate may not have gone up, higher property assessments means more in property taxes is coming out of people's pockets. To most people that means higher taxes. The recent water-sewer rate fiasco didn't help matters either.

In their enthusiasm, supporters, who see the town square project as an economic catalyst for the community, may have failed to recognize that lots of residents are struggling financially. Those residents rightly ask: How can the city afford a new city hall (read that, bigger government) when Homer families are having difficulty making ends meet? And how can they afford it without taxing those families more? If they can, doesn't that mean they've already collected too much in taxes? When residents are tightening their belts at almost every turn, it makes sense that the majority of voters said "no" to a project they don't see as a necessity and one that even supporters said required a leap of faith.

That doesn't necessarily mean they don't like the project, or parts of the project. A town square probably has a lot more support than a new city hall does. A town square with a commercial anchor may make more sense than what was voted down. At least part of the message in Tuesday's vote may be that residents want to make sure that a government project doesn't get preferential treatment over a commercial project. There's the perception, as skeptics of the project have said: If Fred Meyer had gone through as quickly as the city hall project, there likely would be a commercial anchor in town square right now.

The question now becomes "What next?" Let's hope city officials and supporters of town square don't fall into the trap of saying voters didn't know what they were doing when they voted the project down. Homer voters aren't in the habit of saying "no" to everything. In fact, time after time, they've been willing to tax themselves when they believed in the merits of a project. This project had no tax attached and it didn't pass muster with the majority of those voting.

Before moving on to Plan B, city officials need to know why that was.