20 years ago

Homer’s tourism lodging told Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly members Monday to put a bed tax ordinance to sleep and not add it to the fall municipal election ballot. Monday’s public hearing at Cowles Council Chambers in Homer City Hall quickly turned into a showcase for bed-and-breakfast and hotel owners, who almost unanimously opposed the bed tax ordinance. Comment was restricted to a proposal that could mean a 8 percent bed tax on hotel, motel and bed-and-breakfast rooms in the borough. The proposal is seen as one way to help the borough reduce a potential budget deficit of between $5 million and $7 million next year.

— From the issue of March 31, 2005

30 years ago

State lawmakers may see wisdom in ripping huge chunks from state grants to public safety, public broadcasting, education and the arts, but their logic was lost on scores of angry Homer-area residents during a teleconference Saturday. Along with those from Homer, citizens from one end of Alaska to the other aired impassioned pleas in defense of those programs and more during a four-hour public hearing held by the state House Finance Committee. That committee and the Republican-led majority coalition are attempting to cut some $70 million from the state’s fiscal year 1996 operating budget.

— From the issue of March 30, 1995