The recent municipal election has forced the Fairbanks city government to feel a pain that most college students already know -- working with a budget deemed too small for its needs.

Voters approved two propositions during the Oct. 3 election that cut the city's ability to earn revenue from property and sales taxes. The municipal government is looking for new sources of money, but in doing so, students' wallets could take a hit.

"We lose about $10.3 million in property tax revenues in the coming year. Elected officials are dealing with different ways to tax to replace the money," said Ron Woolf, director of the city's finance department. "There is no fat to cut at the city. Things have been pretty lean around here for quite some time."

The taxes being considered to replace the money include a gross receipts tax, head tax, property transfer tax, and increasing the bed tax rate.

"If none of these taxes were to be implemented at all, they'd probably be shutting down one or more major departments in the city," Woolf said.

He added the city is trying to initiate the new tax without a vote.

The budget crisis comes thanks to two voter-initiated propositions.

One reduced property taxes, while the other took away the council's right to create a sales tax for over a year.

They were created as separate initiatives, each meant to deal with the same problem a different way, but voters chose to accept both of them, Woolf said.

"Voter initiatives, they have to have so many signatures," he said. "If the people want something, the city can't do much to stop them. We tried, but I don't know how we could prevent it in the future."

Woolf said city officials had tried to caution people against voting for both initiatives, but voters seemed to ignore them, leaving the city to do damage control however it can.

Though the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner printed the mayor's editorial on the initiatives, Woolf said the city wasn't satisfied with the media coverage of the propositions before the vote.

Though the bed tax, an increase in the rate taxed on beds at hotels and motels, and property transfer tax, a tax on real estate transactions, wouldn't have much impact on UAF students, the gross receipts and head taxes under consideration would likely make a difference in their purchasing power.

"The gross receipts tax takes a percentage of a businesses' gross receipts," explained Woolf. "It's similar to a sales tax, but the business is responsible for paying it, not the consumer."

Added costs for business usually mean added costs for consumers, meaning even the price of Ramen Noodles could go up.

The head tax would create a similar situation, as a flat rate tax per employee would impact low-wage workers like college students more than those making large sums of money.

"Since I have a job, the employee tax would definitely not be cool. It might be harder for me to get a job, and since I don't get paid much, it'd make a difference in my income," said Tara Vandiver, 19, a student at UAF.

"As a young, poor, college student, jobs and money are a good thing," she added.

Students also considered the effect of the taxes on tuition.

Though she was deemed it unlikely, Vandiver pointed out that tuition could increase if the university had to pay more for their real estate transactions. Luckily for students, the lower property taxes might offset that budget change.

UAF undergraduate student Amanda Cobb, 19, said a higher cost of living in Fairbanks probably wouldn't deter many students from attending the university.

"It's still cheaper for me than going out of state because tuition is so much less- cheaper than could be made up by taxes," said UAF undergraduate student Amanda Cobb, 19. "I wouldn't have chosen Anchorage because I'd rather be farther from home, so even if the tax makes money tighter, I wouldn't not come here."