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P E N I N S U L A
Friday–Saturday, August 3–4, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 262
In the news Alaska collects $11M in pot tax revenue, beating projections ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska collected more than $11 million in marijuana tax revenue during the state’s 2018 fiscal year, exceeding projections by nearly $2 million. The Alaska Department of Revenue released numbers Wednesday for the fiscal year that ended in June, indicating a continued rise in revenue collection, KTUU-TV reported . The state collected about $1.7 million during the previous fiscal year. “We absolutely are exceeding our predictions and additionally we are seeing a very steady increase in tax revenue collection each month,” said Kelly Mazzei, the department’s excise tax supervisor. The state collected the most revenue from marijuana taxes in June at more than $1.2 million. The department expects July to break that record, setting a possible trend for the 2019 fiscal year. “I don’t believe the market has saturated, and we haven’t seen exactly what capacity the state is going to operate in, as far as cultivation and retail stores and the other facilities,” Mazzei said. “So we could continue to collect an unknown amount of money in taxes.” Half of the revenue from marijuana taxes is directed into the Recidivism Reduction Fund, which supports programs aimed at reducing relapses into criminal behavior, including the state Department of Corrections’ substance abuse treatment programs and community residential centers. Under current regulations, marijuana buds and flowers are taxed at $50 per ounce. The rest of the plant is taxed at $15 per ounce. The revenue department has proposed creating a third category, taxing immature or abnormal buds at $25 per ounce. “We understand now with feedback that there is some lower quality bud, maybe some that’s failed a test result for mold,” Mazzei said. “So it could go to a product manufacturer, but it won’t go to a retail store. So therefore we don’t believe cultivators should be paying $50 an ounce if they’re not getting that price at market.
State mistake triggers Medicaid repayments By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Speech pathologist Carma Shay will have to find a way to reimburse the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services an estimated $8,000 in Medicaid payments the state said it paid in error. The state is seeking about $15 million in Medicaid funds that were paid in error to over 1,000 healthcare providers in the state. “This is just horrible,” Shay said. “How are we supposed to continue to serve our clients when all of the sudden we’re being told, ‘You know what? We need to go back and make you pay back 10 percent?’”
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Shay is the owner and sole provider of Take Home Speech, a Kenai speech pathology clinic focusing on speech and swallowing health in children. Shay said 90 percent of her clients use Medicaid and that she’s the only Medicaid speech therapy provider on the central peninsula that offers in-home care for her patients. “It’s important for a child to feel comfortable, especially when I’m demanding they do something really hard, like talk when they can’t, so I like working where they are comfortable,” Shay said. “The clients really need these services, but they are unable to pay (without Medicaid).” Medicaid is a public insur-
ance available to children and adults who meet the income or health condition requirements. The funds for the program are appropriated by the Legislature each year. About 28 percent of Alaska’s population were on Medicaid as of May 2018, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The state is still calculating the exact figures each provider owes, but Shay said she’s expecting to pay back around $8,000. The recoupments are based on services billed to Medicaid between October 2017 and the end of June when the Department of Health and Social Services realized it was Central Peninsula Hospital’s River Tower specialty services building stands on Sunday in Soldotna. (Ben Boettger/Peninpaying too much. sula Clarion, file) See PAY, page A8
Trio con Brio Tammy Vollom-Matturro on clarinet (left), Jane Parrish on bassoon, and Mi’Shell French on flute play a noontime concert at the Kenai Fine Arts Center on Thursday in Kenai. The concert was part of the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra’s Summer Gala music festival, which during the next two weeks will bring several more performances. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion) See page 8 for concert information
Saturday event in Soldotna to bring together, celebrate breastfeeding mothers By ERIN THOMPSON Peninsula Clarion
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For a minute Saturday morning, local mothers will stand up to stigma while sharing some quality time with their children — and one another. At the 2018 Big Latch On event at Soldotna Creek Park, mothers will breastfeed together and be counted as part of a global effort to promote breastfeeding, raise awareness about resources for families and encourage community support for mothers. Started in 2005 by the Women’s Health Action — a New Zealand organization that promotes women’s health — the event has spread to two dozen countries and brought thousands of women and babies together. In 2017, the group reported events in 725 locations in 23 countries — with nearly 18,000 breastfeeding children and about 54,000 total participants, according to the group’s website.
‘My first encounter was with my first child and it was at the bookstore coffee shop, and I remember being so ashamed. I don’t want people to feel that way.’ — Bridget Wimberly, Kenai mother Local event organizer and board member of newly established nonprofit Kenai Peninsula Birth, Samantha Van Vleet has seen the event grow since 2011 — when about 20 people turned up for an informal gathering. Last year, about 100 people participated. Van Vleet is hoping for a higher turnout this year. “I think it’s going to be a lot bigger. We’ve already gotten about 80 RSVPs,” she said. Van Vleet has had both good and bad experiences breastfeeding in public. “I’ve had an old lady pitch my arm and tell me, ‘Good for
you, honey,’” she said. Other times she’s received “creepy” looks or been barred altogether. A mother of four who had her first child in high school, Van Vleet was initially prohibited from breastfeeding in class. With a lawyer’s help, however, she was able to quickly resolve the issue, she said. Under Alaska law, municipalities can’t prohibit or restrict a woman from breastfeeding in a public or private location where the woman and child are otherwise allowed to be. Brittany Berger, an apprentice midwife at Juniper Tree See EVENT, page A8
Tobacco tax on borough agenda, sales tax cap ordinance dropped By ELIZABETH EARL Peninsula Clarion
While the borough’s budget has been settled for the coming year, the assembly members are still looking at revenue possibilities. At its upcoming meeting Aug. 7, the assembly is scheduled to introduce an ordinance that would establish a borough-wide excise tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Assembly member Willy Dunne, the sponsor, wrote in a memo to the assembly that the state and other municipalities have tobacco taxes, and a 5-cent per cigarette and 10 percent tax on other tobacco products would bring in about $4.8 million for the borough annually. “Additionally, it is anticipated that the increased cost of cigarettes and other tobacco products will deter the use of tobacco, especially by the youth,” he wrote. Dunne’s ordinance follows a similar proposal from Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce, who withdrew his version at a prior meeting. Several members of the public testified against the tobacco excise tax, saying it was unfair to single out that industry. The assembly has been working on solutions to the borough’s budget gap for two years, working it down to about $2.5 million with the combination of budget cuts and a See TAX, page A8