Name: Riley Gass
Age: 31
Occupation: Journeyman Electrician
Where are you from? How long have you lived in Ketchikan?
Ketchikan, my entire life
What is your community involvement, past and present?
Refereeing High school basketball, raising my two toddlers, owning and managing affordable year round apartment rentals (13 now and a new build triplex that will be complete within the next few months), with 100% year round local tenants only, and church attendance.
Have you previously run for public office? When and what office?
Yes the first time in 2020 and again in 2023, and I am extremely grateful to the community for trusting me to represent you both of those times. It’s something I am humbled by and take seriously.
Why are you running for city council?
To represent the average, working person who feels burned out and exhausted with the increased tourism which seems to not be benefiting the town as much as it can and should. Since our new manager has recently been hired I have made it my mission to come up with ways to get the tourism industry to pull their weight, specifically by contributing more to our utilities (which the use and benefit from) and other services. The fact is they use our city roads, garbage, electricity, water and waste water which we have huge increased costs in, and currently we are seeing zero increased contribution from them. we have seen increased payments from the tourism money to the fire and police, but I believe it could be more. Since the time our new manager came on a couple months ago I Brought forward several future agenda items to address these issues, all of which received majority support from the council to have staff prepare motions to vote on. The actionable items include to change the funding for the museum to be 95% funded by a combination of ticket sales and tourism dollars from CPV or the Port fund as the current structure of funding it mainly through the general fund, which is mainly local tax dollar funded, is not fair to locals. Another item is to increase, and annually increase the payment in lieu of taxes from the Port fund to the general fund. The finance director recently informed us that that payment hasn’t increased because she doesn’t think it would be fair to the tourism industry because the Port has increased maintenance. I strongly disagree with this thinking because the Port has increased revenue and usage tremendously over the years and more importantly, we never offer that generosity to any private property owner ever, the property tax values go up every year. Another item that received council support to bring back is negotiating a payment structure with the cruise lines to contribute to our increased utility costs, as yearly 8% increases on our citizens which has been encourage by staff is unsustainable for much of the town and we must stop running off our local population. I worry that when my children grow up Ketchikan will no longer be affordable for our local people and I want to turn that trend around by changing policy that can make a difference.
What are your top priorities if elected?
Balance the budget, stop increasing spending and growing government, remove red tape to builders and business people, which I have done but need to do more of, and negotiate more financial contributions from the tourism industry while stopping increases on the citizens. In my six years on council I have a record of making the hared votes to decrease spending and have voted against the vast majority of rate increases, but also have common sense and voted in favor or landfill increases that are tied directly to shipping costs which are out of our control.
What is your stance on the ballot proposition asking for the transfer of library powers?
I support it because the library serves citizens of the entire borough, not just the city. Borough residents outside the city also are taxed to support the library so it makes sense to have the borough operate it, and avoid taxation without representation.
Do you think the city is doing an adequate job keeping up with infrastructure and community needs that come with increasing tourism? If not, what steps should be taken to address it?
No, we must negotiate reasonable contributions from the industry to help support our utilities, which the use. If we keep raising rates on locals we will continue to lose our year round residents, tax payers, and rate payers. They need to realize it is in their best interest to contribute.
What are ways the city council can address the housing affordability crisis?
Stop raising rates so drastically year after year, go after increases on the tourism industry with the same passion and energy that we currently are on our people. We also need to start making government more efficient, I have been an advocate for analyzing each departments staff situation as people retire or quit. Not to lay people off but as positions vacate we should see if, with modern technology, if we can do more with less to give some relief to tax and rate payers, as our biggest expense is employee benefits and salary.
How do you think the city should continue to fund capital improvement projects?
We should be going for increased contributions from the tourism industry who is thriving and making more money here than they ever have.
Describe one piece of legislation you would like to bring forward as a council member, and explain how you think it should be funded.
The item listed in a prior question, to drastically increase the Payment in Lieu of Taxes from the Port Fund to the General Fund. Essentially this would accomplish a huge tax relief to the citizens as the Port Fund is cruise ship money and the general fund is what the tax payers pay into to provide general government services. To me this is a no brainer and is one legal, ethical, and common sense way to have tourism dollars help with our local government. Especially considering no other entity or citizen is given such a break on their property due to increased maintenance. This is one way to get around the tonnage clause which generally prevents us from being able to use tourism dollars to fund government that isn’t directly tied to the ships
