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Interior Taxpayers' Association, Inc.

In Fairbanks, Alaska, ITA stands for the Interior Taxpayers' Association, a non-profit, all volunteer group incorporated in the Interior of Alaska in 1987. Our goal is to ensure the most cost effective government possible, and to make it affordable for everyone to live here, with enough discretionary income to enjoy it as well. We continually strive to lower local taxes, or at least ensure that the taxpayers get their money's worth!

Our ITA Candidate Forum was held September 10, 2019, 6:30pm in the JP Jones Community Center at the corner of 24th Avenue and Rickert Street.

We heard from the candidates for City Council, City Mayor, and Borough Assembly. No “canned” questions are used -  all came from the audience.

This communication was paid for by the Interior Taxpayers’ Association, Inc., Box 71892 Fairbanks, Alaska 99709. Fairbanks, AK, Donna Gilbert, President, who has approved this message. The 3 top contributors of ITA so far this election season are Donna Gilbert, Tim Beck, & Marlene Leak. This NOTICE TO VOTERS is required by Alaska law. We certify that this communication is not authorized, paid for, or approved by any candidate.

Reminder, the 2019 Municipal election is October 1!

After the forum, members present voted our endorsements. Here is the corrected Press Release we gave out!

The Interior Taxpayer's Association, Inc. Releases
Endorsements for Election 2019

The Interior Taxpayer's Association held their Local Candidates' Forum September 10, when they questioned the candidates and voted their endorsements for the October 1, 2019 local election. Following the forum, ITA members voted to endorse Jim Matherly for City Mayor.

For the City Council, members declined to endorse anyone for Seat C, but endorsed Aaron Gibson for City Council Seat D.

For the Borough Assembly, the nod went to

• Frank Tomaszewski for seat A,

• Jeffrey Rentzel for Seat C,

• Jimi Cash for seat E, and

• Zachary Floyd for seat I.

There were no propositions on either for Fairbanks city or borough ballots.

The annual forum for local candidates was open to the public Tuesday night, September 10, at the JP Jones Community Center. The audience heard and questioned candidates for Fairbanks City Mayor and Council, and for the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly. In the absence of Donna Gilbert (in Florida undergoing medical treatment) Lance Roberts moderated and ITA members and friends provided refreshments.

ITA wishes to thank the candidates who attended, the audience who supplied the questions, and all those who contributed in-kind donations of refreshments or who helped with the nuts and bolts of putting on a forum. We are indebted to you all!

At the end, ITA tallied member ballots to determine endorsements for the taxpayer group. Non-members were provided with similar candidate "scorecards" and encouraged to submit their comments as well, which some did, although they did not affect the endorsements. Once again, non-member scorecards tended to mirror the results of the official ballots. In fact, if they had been the only ones counted, the endorsements would have been exactly the same!

Endorsements for the October 3, 2018 election have been archived at elec2018x.html

You can donate to ITA securely through the help of PayPal. You do NOT need to have a PayPal account, but will be given the option of opening one. SPECIAL NOTE - DO NOT DONATE TO ANY CANDIDATES HERE - This link is only for ITA.

We will record any money as a donation unless you specify on the comment line that $25 of it should count as your 2020 dues.

Join our Update List

Members may sign up to receive updates on topics affecting taxes for interior residents, click on the "Email List" link on the menu on the left, or on the link at the end of this paragraph.  Subscribe to ITA's Email List

  

Weather Link for Fairbanks

Link for more in-depth information on Fairbanks, Alaska.

 

At this Web Site you can also:

Give us "Feedback". How can we improve our site?

Peruse Taxpayer Links to government and political entities.
(We have decided to post this page now, even though it is a work in progress. It is one of those things that may never be really completed! Please excuse the links that do not work yet. In particular, do not try the link to e-mailing all legislators at once.)

A few years ago, the City Council voted to give FCVB a set percentage of the Bed Tax money. We went through court over this before - and have posted the judges' decision in that earlier case.

Read a brief history of how ITA has saved taxpayers in the Interior millions of dollars since ITA started (we just updated this!). Click Here for the unabridged version (awaiting updates).

Browse our Election Archives (Fairbanks North Star Borough and city of Fairbanks). We have had to remove some of the older ones for lack of web space. Sorry!

Take a look at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Tax Cap. (If you are not from Fairbanks, and your community is considering putting on a tax cap, you may want to take a look at our application for initiative petition for ideas. Just remember that this one is for a Second Class Borough in Alaska. We hope to put up the one for a Home Rule Municipality soon.)

Read why ITA wanted to Repeal the Fairbanks Port Authority, were against the Gas Line Port Authority, and objected to the latest Consolidation attempt.

 

 

"Lighten up" with a little humor:

Enjoy our Guest Page which highlights tax-related political thought from varied sources, friends and otherwise. We get a lot of visitors looking for information on the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend program. It is a state issue, and we are more concerned with local tax issues, so here is the official link for them: http://www.pfd.state.ak.us/

Send an email message to . Suggestions for our web site are welcome! You can also email us to be added to our email newsletter, ITA Interior Alert.

Join or donate to ITA, or subscribe to our email newsletter. Remember, good government is not a spectator sport - get involved!

Our meetings used to be held on the third Wednesday of the month , usually at Denny's, but we have not had a meeting in a long time, as there was not much happening, and we hate to bother people with meetings if it is not strictly necessary. The last meeting was our Candidate Forum, Sept. 22, 2009 at the Assembly Chambers. Sign up on our list to find out about future meetings.

Going Somewhere? Try Fairbanks-Alaska.com for more specifics on our town, or Neighborhood and Community Information for other areas.