14.08.030 Service area – Dissolution.
A. The Assembly may dissolve a service area in accordance with AS 29.35. An ordinance may be introduced directly by an Assemblymember, the Mayor or a committee of the Assembly or petition as set forth below.
B. One or more persons who own real property within a service area may submit an application for petition to the Director of Public Works. The application shall state the name of the service area to be dissolved. The persons submitting the application shall be the sponsors of the petition. Additional sponsors may be added at any time before the petition is filed by submitting the name of each sponsor to the director.
C. Not more than two weeks following filing of the application for petition, the director shall prepare, and make available to the sponsors who filed the application, a petition which shall contain:
1. The name of the service area to be dissolved;
2. A map or other description sufficient to identify the service area to be dissolved, as determined by the director;
3. A notice that the property within the service area to be dissolved shall remain liable for any debts of the service area which become due and owing after the dissolution with said debt to be collected through taxation; and
4. Such other information as the director shall deem appropriate.
D. The sponsors shall file the petition with the director not more than 180 days after the date on which the application for petition was filed. The petition shall be sufficient if it contains:
1. The signatures of a simple majority of the owners of real property within the service area to be dissolved, as shown on the most recent property tax assessment roll, with the date of each signature; and
2. A statement signed and dated by each sponsor who circulated the petition asserting that the sponsor personally circulated the petition, that all signatures were affixed in the presence of the sponsor, and that the sponsor believes the signatures to be those of the persons whose names they purport to be.
E. The Borough Clerk shall review the petition and determine whether the petition is legally sufficient and whether the requisite number of signatures was validly obtained. If the petition is legally sufficient and contains a sufficient number of valid signatures, the Clerk shall certify the petition. If the petition does not contain a sufficient number of valid signatures, the director shall return the petition to the sponsors who shall then have 10 days in which to obtain and submit additional signatures to the director. If the petition still does not contain a sufficient number of valid signatures, or if the petition is otherwise legally insufficient, the Clerk shall reject the petition. No person may file an application for petition for an area which includes all or any part of the area proposed for dissolution under a petition which was rejected, sooner than 180 days after the date of rejection.
F. The Borough Mayor shall cause to be made a review of the debts, functions, and other relevant information concerning the service area to be dissolved, and shall advise the commissioners of the service area that if any operating and/or capital moneys held by the Borough for the account of the service area are not spent prior to the effective date of dissolution, said moneys will be disposed of by ordinance according to origin. The Mayor shall report the results of the review to the Assembly, and upon receipt of the Mayor’s report, the Assembly shall introduce and consider an ordinance to dissolve the service area.
G. If voters reside within a service area that provides road, fire protection, or parks and recreation services, dissolution of the service area is subject to approval by a majority of the voters residing in the service area who vote on the question. However, this vote shall not be required for dissolutions of service areas in which:
1. Taxes have not been levied in the service area for road maintenance or construction during the last 12 months and there is no balance in any account available to pay for these road services for the service area;
2. During the last 12 months the service area commission has not legally met with a quorum present;
3. There are no road maintenance contracts in effect for the service area; or
4. Existing road maintenance contracts fail to provide for minimum road standards required by law that are necessary to protect the Borough from civil liability.
H. All unexpended and unencumbered operating and capital moneys held by the Borough for the account of a road service area which dissolves in accordance with this section, as determined by the financial records of the Borough on the date of dissolution, shall be paid to the appropriate bodies as deemed by the Assembly.
I. Dissolution of a service area shall not be effective prior to the date on which the Chief Financial Officer certifies that all receivables of the service area, including but not limited to property taxes and special assessment charges, and all payables of the service area, including but not limited to repayment of loans to the General Fund and contract payments to vendors, both as established by the financial records of the Borough, have been satisfied.
J. The Assembly may levy taxes, charges or assessments on the property within a service area which has dissolved, after the date of dissolution, in order to fund the payment of debts, obligations or contingent liabilities arising out of the operation of the service area which mature and become due and owing after the date of dissolution. (Ord. 2017-04 § 2, 2017; Ord. 2006-07 § 3, 2006; Ord. 2001-65 § 8, 2001; Ord. 86-091 §§ 2, 3, 1987. 2004 Code § 14.01.156. Formerly 14.04.180.)