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Borough Assembly Forms Senior Task Force

Courtesy of Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly approved a Senior Task Force at their meeting Tuesday evening. Assembly Member, Kelly Cooper, who represents District 8 – Homer, introduced the resolution forming the task force.

“The task force will consist of seven people and will meet quarterly to review topics that are affecting seniors in our community. And they will bring forth recommendations and advise the assembly on actions that we may or may not take,” said Cooper.

Cooper says the Kenai Peninsula Borough has the largest growing percentage of seniors in the state and the region is continuing to see an increase in that population. The Borough’s seniors need to be at the table, Cooper says, as the Borough wrestles with issues like how to provide adequate health care for the region’s aging population.

“Senior citizens do require a higher level of health care. And so we just have to look at how that all comes into play for our budgetary process,” said Cooper.

Cooper says the Borough will likely be considering changes to the tax code that could impact seniors.

“If we review the tax code at the Borough level, property taxes are a big part of our revenue and we have a lot of exemptions for seniors. So, we may look at that and saying, ‘okay is it appropriate for all seniors to automatically get that exemption? Or would it be on a sliding scale. And those are types of things that we would want input from the seniors," said Cooper.

Cooper says sales tax will also be under consideration as the Borough tries to increase revenue. Cooper says she’s looking forward to hearing from seniors.

“There are people in the Hope area that have very different needs from the people in Soldotna or even Homer, so I’m looking forward to having a really good mixture of seniors on there and them giving us some advice on the issues that we have to address,” said Cooper.

The Borough’s Senior Task Force is temporary and you don’t have to be a senior to apply. Cooper says those interested in joining the new task force may apply through the Mayor’s office. 

Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.