Clarise Larson

Voters chose not to implement a new seasonal sales tax system in Juneau next year, but approved two measures that aim to reduce the tax burden on individual residents. That’s according to the final results for Juneau’s municipal election released on Tuesday.

 Meanwhile, voters elected a new face to the Juneau Assembly over a two-term incumbent. 

Nano Brooks unseats incumbent Wade Bryson for Assembly District 2

Three seats were up for grabs on the Juneau Assembly this year, but only one was contested. 

District 2 Assembly candidate Nano Brooks ousted longtime incumbent Wade Bryson from his seat on the Assembly. Bryson was seeking reelection for his third and final term on the Assembly. Brooks ultimately won by 391 more votes.

This will be Brooks’ first time serving in public office after two previous Assembly runs, and he said he’s excited to bring new energy and ideas to the Assembly. He said he hopes his successful campaign running against an incumbent will inspire others to put their hat in the ring. 

“It doesn’t have to be what everyone would consider the status quo — that you get your two terms and you’re guaranteed a third,” he said. “I just showed that that’s not always the case. So maybe that’ll help other people get more engaged and give things a shot in the future.”

Bryson declined an interview following the final results. 

Incumbent Assembly members Greg Smith and Ella Adkison ran unopposed for their seats. Smith will now serve his third and final three-year term on the Assembly, while Adkison will serve her first full term. She was originally elected to the Assembly in 2023 to fill the remaining two years in the term of a member who resigned. 

Tax cuts pass, seasonal sales tax fails

Voters passed Propositions 1 and 2, which were both put on the ballot by an advocacy group called the Affordable Juneau Coalition.

Proposition 1 caps the rate the city uses to determine how much residents pay in property taxes each year. Results show that yes votes narrowly led by 157 votes. Proposition 2 exempts essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax. Votes in favor of the proposition led handily by nearly 4,000 votes. 

Angela Rodell, the treasurer of the Affordable Juneau Coalition, said the results show that Juneau voters aren’t satisfied with the status quo. 

“We are thrilled with the turnout and the response and the engagement,” she said. “Voters have overwhelmingly spoken to focus on affordability and must-haves in Juneau.”

The Juneau Assembly put Proposition 3 on the ballot, which sought to implement a new seasonal sales tax system next year. 

Assembly members argued the change would have allowed the city to take advantage of the 1.7 million cruise passengers that come to town each summer, while giving year-round residents a break during the winter. It was also meant to recoup some of the city revenue lost if voters passed the other propositions. 

However, the proposition failed by 1,488 votes. 

“I think it’s pretty unfortunate that there wasn’t more support for a seasonal sales tax,” said Assembly member Christine Woll. “I don’t think that people have a clear understanding about the deep, deep cuts to city services that we’re going to have to make as a result of these results.”

Woll said the final results mean the city is now estimated to face upwards of a $12 million revenue shortfall this year — and every year moving forward. She said that’s not going to be an easy fix and will require some tough community conversations. 

“People have suggestions on particular projects they don’t like, which can save a few million here and there, but we have to make those cuts to our operations so that every year we’re spending $10 to $13 million less,” she said. “I am concerned about the public’s reaction when they see the level of cuts that we’re really talking about.”

Rodell challenged that, saying she thinks the outcome presents an opportunity to the Assembly to focus on needs versus wants. She argued that cutting services is not the only answer. 

“There are things that the city can focus on to grow the tax base and to generate additional revenue that doesn’t involve raising taxes on the backs of residents and working families,” she said. 

New faces elected to school board

Steve Whitney, Melissa Cullum and Jenny Thomas won the top spots in the race for the three open seats on the Juneau Board of Education. Thomas surpassed Jeremy “JJJ” Johnson by 132 votes.

Write-in candidate and current board president Deedie Sorensen trailed behind all other candidates. 

Voter turnout 

In total, 10,263 registered voters had their ballots counted in this year’s municipal election – that’s just under 37% of registered voters in Juneau compared to last year’s 38%, which was the highest voter turnout of the last 10 years.

The Juneau Assembly will meet for its reorganization meeting to swear in new members on Monday, Oct. 27. New school board members will be sworn in at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 28. 

The mayor’s task force on short-term rentals wrapped up four months ago. It was mostly made up of homeowners, not renters. And its findings offered no immediate recommendations on regulations or restrictions for the Juneau Assembly to consider. 

Juneau has been grappling with a housing shortage for decades — studies pointing to Juneau’s acute lack of it date back to the 70s. 

City officials have tried finding ways to create new housing for long-term renters. In recent years, there’s also been a push to crack down on short-term rentals, like Airbnbs and Vrbos. City data and other analyses suggest there are likely around 300 to 400 short-term rentals in Juneau, but that the number could be even higher.

“There is very distinct opinions on it — and some people are for them, and some people are against them,” said Mayor Beth Weldon.

Right now, short-term rentals are largely unregulated, although the city started requiring people to register them in 2023. Weldon launched a short-term rental task force in January to assess the market and make recommendations that improve housing availability.

Of the 11 members, only one was a renter. The group concluded its meetings in early June and offered some imprecise recommendations to the Assembly. But, Weldon said she had hoped for clearer direction. 

“They were pretty benign recommendations, and if that’s what the Assembly wants, that’s good. But I was hoping to see a little bit more,” she said.

Assembly member Wade Bryson, who chaired the committee, said one positive change that did come out of the task force was requiring rental sites to take care of sales taxes on behalf of local operators. The Assembly approved that change back in May.

The task force also recommended non-regulatory actions for the Assembly to take, like conducting an economic impact study on short-term rentals.

But members couldn’t agree on what else to implement, or when. Bryson said the committee faced a lot of hurdles. Not everyone on the 11-member task force showed up to every meeting. He says that made it hard to gauge a consensus and led to a lot of split votes. 

“It was difficult to get support to take such a hard stance one direction or the other,” he said. 

He said he thinks a better use of city time and resources is to focus on creating new housing opportunities, like the Telephone Hill redevelopment project. 

“The data says they’re not causing the housing crisis, and even if we restrict them, that’s not going to move the needle and get more houses into the market,” he said. 

The task force suggested basing its recommendations on Juneau’s rental vacancy rate — the overall number of vacant rental units. In a final report shared with the Assembly, it concluded that the current 3.9% vacancy rate is low — meaning there isn’t enough open housing to go around. But, they left it up to the Assembly to decide what rate would justify taking action.

If at some point the Assembly decides on what that threshold is and that it has been met, then the task force recommends two things: the city institute a fee for permits and cap the number of rentals permitted to a person or business. But, it also didn’t recommend a specific fee rate or cap to consider. 

Bryson said it’s unlikely that the Assembly will pick this topic back up any time soon. 

“It did not appear with the data that we were in a crisis mode because of short-term rentals,” he said. “It just isn’t making that level of impact.”

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs also served on the task force. In a text message, she said she “wasn’t satisfied by the amount of outputs from the task force” and intends to take the topic back up in the coming years.

In this newscast:

• Alaska Federation of Natives delegates on Saturday called for an immediate emergency declaration from President Donald Trump – and more federal assistance for communities hit by the remnants of Typhoon Halong. It was one of dozens of resolutions passed on the final day of the AFN convention in Anchorage.
• Alaska Airlines is dropping its popular policy that allowed travelers flying within the state of Alaska to check three bags for free. The change will primarily impact non-Alaska residents.
•  More than 1,500 Juneauites joined millions of people nationwide this weekend to partake in the second iteration of the No Kings protest against President Donald Trump’s policies and actions.
• Alaska Congressman Nick Begich on Saturday delivered his first address to the Alaska Federation of Natives since being sworn in this year.
• As residents boarded air transports out of Kipnuk Wednesday, they were leaving what remained of their houses, belongings, and ancestral homeland behind. For many, that list also included their dogs. A Bethel-based nonprofit sprang into action to rescue the pets.

More than 1,500 Juneauites joined millions of people nationwide on Saturday to partake in the second iteration of the No Kings protest against President Donald Trump’s policies and actions. 

The protest was lively, full of songs, chants and impassioned speeches even under a cloudy October sky as rain drizzled down over Juneau’s Overstreet Park.

Saturday’s gathering was the latest wave of the nationwide No Kings protest. It’s estimated more than 2,500 events were held across the country in every state this past weekend – including more than a dozen Alaska communities. 

The protests were held to push back against the Trump administration and the president’s behavior since returning to office. Demonstrators feel Trump’s actions resemble that of a monarch. 

“These protests are for them, these protests are for us,” said Gina Chalcroft with Juneau Indivisible helped organize the event.

 Speaking to the crowd, she stressed the need for peaceful and non violent community action against what she called an attack on democracy.

“These protests are about presence and about showing up, and so they will know that we still stand together, no matter how hard they try to divide us,” she said. 

Chalcroft and other speakers at the event criticized the White House and U.S. Justice Department. They decried immigration detentions being carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the slashing of the federal workforce and Medicaid and the current government shutdown’s impact on health care coverage.

A handful of people wore costumes, like Teresa Bowen who was dressed like a frog. It’s a new symbol of resistance that started in Portland during recent immigration raids. Bowen said she joined the protest against the increasing polarization of the country. 

“We have maybe different ideals, we might have different beliefs, but at the end of the day, that’s part of democracy,” she said. “Having a melting pot of beliefs and making the country better because of those beliefs.”

Ben Durrant similarly donned an inflatable Husky dog suit to match his dog that sat in the crowd nearby chewing a toy hotdog. 

“I just love my husky, and I dressed up like a husky because I figured we’d team up today and come out and protest, he said. 

He said he joined the rally to show support of his children and their future.  

“I’ve got three kids, one’s transgender and one is gay and and the removal of their rights and and total disregard for who they are by like the current administration is just something I can’t sit down and let happen,” he said. 

Demonstrators stayed in the rain for more than two hours, singing , listening and chanting with one another. President Trump called the protests “a joke” over the weekend and rejected the accusation that he is acting like a king.

Juneau’s cold weather emergency shelter opens Wednesday night. 

It’s the third year the shelter will be located in a warehouse in Thane, about a mile from downtown. It’s funded by the city and operated by staff from St. Vincent de Paul, a local nonprofit that works to help people affected by homelessness. 

Jennifer Skinner is the executive director of Juneau’s St. Vincent de Paul chapter. She said the shelter is critical to keeping people alive during the cold winter months. 

“The most important part of having this option for our unhoused population is that it gives them a safe, dry, warm place to be overnight, where otherwise they would be out in the elements,” she said. 

The shelter accepts anyone who comes in search of a place to sleep, as long as they aren’t disruptive to other patrons. City officials say it’s a stopgap and meant to be a last resort for unhoused people when the weather gets cold. 

Last season, the shelter saw an average of 45 people per night. But, some nights, staff saw up to 70 people in need of shelter. 

This summer, Juneau saw an influx of encampments throughout the borough, particularly near the Glory Hall shelter in the Mendenhall Valley. That’s in part due to the closure of the city-run campground near downtown two years ago. 

The increase in campers this year led the Glory Hall to reduce its services in late August due to what staff say was a deteriorating and unsafe environment in the neighborhood. The Juneau Assembly grappled with several ideas this summer to address the larger issue of homelessness in Juneau. 

Skinner said she expects many campers near the Glory Hall shelter to head to the emergency shelter in Thane as the temperatures in Juneau begin to fall. 

“It kind of just takes that lift and that burden off of our unhoused population, and allows for them to have a little bit of peace of mind for six months out of the year, knowing that there’s always a place open,” she said. 

The shelter will be open every day starting Wednesday from 9 p.m. until the early morning. There will also be free shuttle transportation from the Mendenhall Valley and downtown to the shelter. The shelter will stay open through April of next year. 

Juneau’s known for its beautiful mountains and seemingly endless trails. They’re just some of the many draws that bring 1.7 million cruise ship passengers to Alaska’s capital city each summer. 

But this year, at least five people died in the backcountry around Juneau, including tourists, a seasonal worker, a local and a researcher. Two people died in separate incidents on Mount Roberts, two others on popular hiking trails and one on top of Mendenhall Glacier. 

The data isn’t readily available to say how unusual this summer was, but some of the deaths came after extensive search and rescue.  

“Deaths on the mountains in Juneau are not uncommon. However, we saw a lot more this year,” said Andrew Pantiskas, the EMS chief for Capital City Fire/Rescue. 

But he said there isn’t anything he could point to about this summer that made it different than others. Pantiskas said there are ways that people can prepare themselves for an emergency situation in the backcountry.  

“One of the biggest things that we always remind people to do is have a travel plan, have a flight plan, have a trail plan — whatever you want to call it,” he said. “Have someone who’s not with you, who knows when you’re supposed to be back where you’re going, and knows your contact info.”

He listed other things hikers should do to prepare, too, like dressing for the weather, having a charged phone and a head lamp.

Pete Boyd with Juneau Mountain Rescue said it’s easy to become complacent about the dangers of being out in the mountains, especially on clear days.  

“Serious things can happen to anybody at any time,” he said. “There was no major weather. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about this year, but we’ve had five deaths.”

In September, a Texas man visiting on a cruise ship died after falling off a steep mountainside  on Mount Roberts near downtown. A man with him at the time also fell and suffered minor injuries. 

Another cruise ship passenger died from a fall on the mountain earlier this year. Both tourists died after taking the popular Goldbelt Tram to get to the top of Mount Roberts. Boyd said mountains can become much more dangerous in the dark or bad weather. 

“The biggest thing is: stay on the trails there. If you think you’re on a shortcut, it’s not a shortcut,” he said. “The number of times we’ve gone out for people where they’re like, ‘Oh, well, I thought this would be a quicker way down and it looks like a trail,’ [but] it’s a game trail, or even just a stream that leads to a cliff.”

McHugh Pierre, Goldbelt’s president and CEO, said the company has safety signs posted on trails for visitors exiting onto the mountain at the top. He said staff also warn people of the dangers as they ride the tram up the mountain and use the trails. 

“People need to respect that Alaska is the frontier,” he said. “It is on the edge of wilderness, and just because you can see a town doesn’t mean that you’re not in the wild and facing all of the challenges that that wilderness throws at you.”

He said after this summer, Goldbelt plans to increase signage and education efforts for visitor safety.

The cruise tourism season in Juneau ended this week after a nearly 200-day season.