By NATALIE SPAULDING
A municipal tax cap is one way to prevent a borough or local government entity from spending taxpayer money on unwarranted travel expenses or political causes. Understanding current borough spending habits can help voters decide about the necessity of a tax cap. In an effort to show why a tax cap is both necessary and desirable, Fairbanks residents Jon and Ruth Ewig conducted a FOIA request to shine light on Fairbanks North Star Borough expenditures.
Ruth Ewig requested documents detailing borough expenditures through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The documents she received show that Fairbanks North Star Borough representatives Savannah Fletcher, David Guttenberg, Brett Rotermund, Mindy O’Neall, Scott Crass, and Kristan Kelly cumulatively spent $34,800 of taxpayer money on travel expenses from February 5, 2024 – February 21, 2025.
According to the documents released to MRAK, David Guttenberg spent the most money: $13,000. Mindy O’Neall spent $7,500, part of which was used to fund a trip to Victoria BC, Canada to attend a conference about “preventing hate and building social cohesion.”
According to Ewig, the documents show that Guttenberg and O’Neall failed during their authorized Junea trip to keep their appointments with their interior Legislative Delegation. Released Assembly reports do not account for their absences.
The FOIA documents also reveal that North Star Borough Assembly members used Borough funds to attend the Alaska Municipal League’s Annual Local Government Conference. Additionally, the Borough Assembly paid $50,000 to a lobbyist.
During the February 2024-2025 time frame, Borough member Scott Crass spent $5,000; Savannah Fletcher spent $3600; Brett Rotermund spent $3,500; and Kristan Kelly spent $1,000.
In 2024, according to Ewig, Borough members O’Neall, Crass, and Fletcher spent $125,000 sponsoring a campaign to remove the tax cap and to increase real property land taxes by $10 million. That campaign failed. “These travel expenditures do not represent a wise use of taxpayer-generated revenues,” said Ewig. “Fairbanks residents know that raising the tax cap is not necessary, and that these funds can be better utilized on the proper functions of government.”
Natalie Spaulding, a 2025 Hillsdale College graduate, recently joined the Must Read Alaska team.
This situation is not unique to Fairbanks. There is a certain city in SE Alaska who’s school district sends teachers all over the lower 48 for “training” and “new curriculum and teaching methods.” I have no idea how much is being spent, probably don’t want to know.
Sunlight — love the transparency about how our $ is being spent!
Good job Natalie: keep it up!
Seems like a big nothing burger, this is not expensive or unusual travel.
Not expensive, unusual, or …… necessary!
It is a usual expense because politicians “usually” waste money on travel.
Why does Ms. Oneal need to go to beautiful Victoria, Canada to learn about “preventing hate” ?
Why can’t she learn that on-line or at least in America?
Has Canada erased “hate”?
While travel expenses are easy pickings, they do not tell the story of why the FNSB is so desperate to raise more taxes: fat union contracts and ever-expanding bureaucracy, and a lefty dream for more. More than 100 cars grace the parking lot at the FNSB SD admin building – seriously, WHY? The Borough admin building is similarly staffed. I don’t believe the union workers are overpaid, but the benefits are generous. FNSB cries for money for every liberal cause… “Teachers need a pay raise” but the money gets spent on breakfasts (Juneau). “We have to provide housing for the homeless, they’ll freeze,” while assembly members make buckets of money from contracts to do so (Anchorage). Fairbanks is no different – the slime just hasn’t crept out into the light …yet…
Which assembly members made buckets of money from contracts to house homeless in Anchorage?
The employees certainly produced individual reports detailing how the borough benefited from paying for this travel, right?
Right?
Thank you very enlightened
WOW! The expense accounts for these Bilkers need to be abolished and repaid. Spending OUR money to bullshit us and manipulate for control and more money to pilfer is NOT OK! The word Retribution comes to mind.
Public servants, or any specialist have to travel to meetings time and again, I don’t think you are in the pay scale to know about that.
When I worked for Siemens they sent me to Anchorage twice a week. It’s called having responsibilities and being important.
Please: Use emojis to better express your discontent with the political 🐂💩!
😁
If you raise it, they will spend it.
Cap the mill rate.
Joe, you sound like a redneck, conservative Republican who hates spending money on education, public recreation, senior facilities, and drag shows. You won’t get my vote.
Those expenses are peanuts compared to what the Anchorage assembly spends.
The public should be aware of the money the Anchorage ASSembly spent on rules and regulation regarding professional counseling for youth with gender confusion but all emails and correspondence were deleted just like Hillary’s.
Sam Brinton’s name was brought up as the author.
Did Chris have a private meeting or a side bar at Mad Myrnas?
Its’ not just the travel expenses, its’ the time spent traveling that cuts into productivity. They’ve never heard of “Zoom” to attend meetings in real time?
And these leftie liberals always pontificating about technology.
There was once a tax cap in Anchorage’s Code of Ordinances; actually, it’s still there, but progressives have found several means by which to subvert it during the last 15 years. Sad but true.
Whatever you do, don’t let them change your elections to the Spring. That has spelled the end of free functioning government in Los Anchorage.
P.S. It’s nice to see a Hillsdale grad in Alaska.
I’d be interested in what was taught/learned at the conference. Are the materials and presentations that were provided to the local politician considered “lost to the ages”, or can they be requested under the Alaska Public Records Act?