City of St. Mary's v. St. Mary's Native Corp.

OPINION

FABE, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

In 1986 the voters in St. Mary's approved a three percent sales tax. In implementing the voter-approved tax, the city council exempted transactions exceeding $1,000. In May 1994 the St. Mary's city council repealed that exemption. Because the voters had already approved the three percent tax in 1986, the city council believed that further voter ratification was unnecessary. Alaska Commercial Company and St. Mary's Native Corporation contend that repeal of the exemption was invalid because it was not the subject of a public vote and that notice of the public…