The Juneau Assembly narrowly voted against putting two bond questions on this fall’s municipal ballot at a meeting on Monday.
The bonds would have helped fund critical repairs and upgrades to Juneau’s schools and the city’s water and sewer systems. Officials say the updates are sorely needed.
Assembly member Christine Woll said she wanted to wait to ask the question until a later election because of how crowded the ballot is already. She said she’s also worried about adding to the city’s debt at a time of potential budget uncertainty.
“We will need to fund these at some point in the near future, I would ask that we hold off until next year, given what we have on the ballot,” she said.
Two citizen initiatives on the ballot seek to remove local sales tax on food and utilities and limit the city’s property tax rate. If passed by voters, both are projected to leave multimillion-dollar holes in the city’s budget.
In preparation, the city recently notified local organizations that receive city grants – including KTOO – that it would be withholding a portion of their funding until the election due to “the potential of significant revenue loss” if the citizen initiatives pass.
Assembly member Maureen Hall said she wanted to put the school bond question on the ballot because of the potential for state assistance to pay down the debt.
“We should take advantage of this opportunity,” she said. “I don’t think this is confusing to the voters. We all know what’s been happening to school funding lately.”
Despite voting down the school bond ordinance, the Assembly did move forward with a plan to fund the fencing and site preparation for a playground at Juneau’s Dzantik’i Heeni campus through general funds. It was originally intended to be funded through the bond measure. Members will still need to vote to approve that funding before that work can begin.
