As tempting as it looked to waive Wrangell’s 7% sales tax on heating fuel sales for three months this winter, borough officials and the assembly made the right call in dropping the idea.

After initially accepting the proposal at its Oct. 13 meeting, the assembly reversed course at the Oct. 27 meeting after Borough Manager Mason Villarma recommended against proceeding with the tax-off months Nov. 15 through Feb. 15. The assembly agreed.

Villarma reported that residents — and some assembly members — shared with him their concerns after the first meeting that giving a tax break to people who heat with fuel oil would be unfair to people who rely on electric heat or other fuels, such as wood.

According to U.S. Census data, more than 60% of Wrangell homes rely on electric heat, including electric hot water baseboards and electric heat pumps which are growing in popularity for their efficiency.

With abundant, low-cost power from the Tyee Lake hydroelectric project, Wrangell enjoys among the lowest costs in the state, which has been an incentive for homeowners and businesses over the years to move away from diesel-fueled boilers.

 “For the city to offer an incentive for those folks that are on diesel or heating oil was kind of counterintuitive and counterproductive to our overall goal of trying to get more folks to use electric heat,” Villarma explained in an interview the day after the assembly decided to drop the sales tax holiday on heating fuel.

No doubt the high price for diesel is painful for residents who burn the fuel for heat. And no doubt eliminating the sales tax on a 200-gallon delivery could have saved a consumer close to $100. But equally no doubt that the tax break — at a cost of reduced revenue to the borough for schools and other public services — would have benefitted some, but not everyone, in the community.

The better answer is to get more residents and businesses off fuel oil and onto electric heat. The Southeast Alaska Power Agency, which owns and manages Tyee Lake for the benefit of Wrangell and Petersburg, plans to install a third generator at the power station next year, in part to handle the growing load from heat pumps.

In that same direction, a federal grant is subsidizing heat pump installations throughout Southeast.

The long-term answer to fuel prices that spike when people can least afford it is to use less of it. The assembly made the right choice to stick with that path. Borough officials can best help people who are financially stressed from high fuel oil prices by directing them to existing federal, state and regional programs that provide aid to low-income households.