Juneau elections

A proposition on Juneau’s local ballot this year asks voters whether to lower the cap on the local property tax rate, also known as the mill rate. Advocates say the proposition will help make Juneau more affordable. 

Proposition 1 seeks to cap the rate the city uses to determine how much residents pay in property taxes each year. 

“Everyone who owns property in Juneau pays property tax to the city based on the value of their property. This would be capping the rate at which the Assembly can charge them for that,” said Assembly member Christine Woll. 

The proposed cap is only slightly lower than what property owners are already paying currently. 

Right now, the city caps the mill rate at 12 mills. That limit excludes debt service, which goes toward paying off the city’s existing bonds and loans.

If voters pass Proposition 1 this election, that cap would be lowered to 9 mills. Juneau’s current rate, when excluding debt service, is 9.16. But the rate has been higher before, and the Assembly wants the flexibility to charge more in the future. 

But an advocacy group called the Affordable Juneau Coalition says the city needs to focus its spending on things it needs to fund, and not what it wants to fund. Angela Rodell is the treasurer of the group. 

“I think it’s really imperative that the city show its residents that they care about affordability and want to really focus on the things that make this community very livable,” she said.  

So, what would the change actually mean for your wallet? The city estimates that owners with property valued at half a million dollars or less would save about $80 per year in property taxes if the proposition passes. That’s assuming the home value stays the same. 

Now, let’s compare that to the top commercial property owner in the city: Hecla Greens Creek Mine. It owns property valued at just under $285 million based on its 2024 assessment. With the proposed cap, it could save just over $45,000, assuming the value stays the same. 

According to census data, more than a third of Juneau households are renters. And renters might not see any benefit from a cap — landlords have no legal obligation to pass any savings from the change on to their tenants. 

So, the winner in this scenario is those who own a lot of property in town. The city is the loser. That’s because the Assembly would have less money to fund city services. 

“The question that’s being asked this year is, ‘Do you think we should be focusing on making this a community that has services for our lowest-income people, or do you think that we should cut taxes for the wealthiest in the community to make things more affordable?’” Woll said. 

The change would result in a roughly $1 million loss in revenue to the city year over year. The rate cap wouldn’t be immediately devastating to the city’s roughly $140 million in annual discretionary revenue. But less revenue equals less money to pay for services. Woll says over time, the Assembly may need to make cuts to the budget if the proposition passes. 

For each dollar the city collects in property taxes, a bit more than 50 cents goes toward education and a little under 40 cents goes toward city services. 

“When I think long term, it’s maybe less about the money and more about the city’s ability to respond to changing environments,” Woll said. 

It’s unclear what services the Assembly might choose to cut. It would make those decisions after the election.

Rodell said she thinks the city can handle the change, and in doing so, it will prove to constituents that it, too, can tighten its belt. 

“We know that the city can deliver a lot of services for 9 mills,” she said. “What we’re asking the city to do is to continue to be really thoughtful about how and where and when they collect tax and spend that tax.”

If approved by voters, the rate cap would be applied next city budget season. Election Day is Tuesday, Oct. 7. 

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.

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Deedie Sorensen did not plan on running for another term. But earlier this week, rumors circulated that she would run as a write-in candidate. Sorensen said on a call with KTOO Monday that she hadn’t heard the rumors. She also said she didn’t plan to run.

“Apparently, I was the only person that hadn’t heard the rumor that you called me about,” she said during a phone interview Wednesday.

Two days later, things had changed. Sorensen said people reached out to encourage her to run.

“The message I got on Monday was – from way too many people – was that they wanted another choice,” she said.

Sorensen filed with the city to run as a write-in candidate Wednesday. She’s now the fifth candidate vying to fill three seats on the board. This would be her third term if elected. 

Sorensen’s tenure coincided with a tumultuous period for the Juneau School District. She spent her first term largely working through the COVID-19 pandemic. She also served as board president when the district decided to close and consolidate Juneau schools to fill a $9.7 million budget deficit. She survived a recall effort following the consolidation last year.

Sorensen said she thinks the district is making progress since the consolidation. If elected, she said she’s interested in following the academic performance of sixth graders, who were lumped in with elementary school instead of middle school after the closures. 

She said the candidate forum hosted by KTOO and the League of Women Voters of Juneau last week influenced her decision.

“The overall message to me, for some of the candidates, was not an overwhelming desire to promote public education,” she said.

She said that commitment is necessary to serve on the school board.

“You need to be a real advocate for (the) best public education and for, you know, all the students,” Sorensen said.

Sorensen worked as a teacher for the district for more than 35 years.

This isn’t the first time someone has filed to be a write-in candidate for the school board in recent memory. Former school board member Will Muldoon ran a successful write-in campaign for his first term in 2021.

Sorensen is the only write-in candidate so far this year. As of Thursday morning, no one else has filed as a write-in candidate for the school board and Juneau Assembly races, according to the city clerk’s office. The city mailed ballots to registered voters on Sept. 19. Juneau voters have until Oct. 7 to return them.

Juneau Assembly and school board candidates running in the Oct. 7 municipal election answered questions about local issues during the 2025 League of Women Voters Candidate Forum on Friday.

Ballots are on their way to voters now and must be returned by Oct. 7.

Find the latest local election coverage — including candidate profiles — at ktoo.org/elections. 

 

Ballots are on their way from Washington state to registered voters in Juneau today for this year’s local election. Residents have until Oct. 7 to vote. 

It marks the start of the City and Borough of Juneau’s municipal election this year, which features three ballot propositions, four candidates running for three open seats on the Assembly and four candidates running for three seats on the school board.  

The city clerk’s office says residents should start receiving their ballots in their mailboxes this weekend. 

Voters will have a few ways to return their ballots once they are filled out. The city has ballot drop boxes in locations throughout the borough. Voters can also mail ballots back or go to one of the two vote centers in town.

Ballots sent in by mail need to be postmarked on or before Election Day and a first-class stamp is required. 

The five available ballot drop boxes will open Friday. They are located at City Hall, the Alaska Electric Light and Power Company office in Lemon Creek, Douglas Library, the Mendenhall Valley Public Library and the Statter Harbor Boat Launch parking area. 

The two vote centers will open on Monday. They are at City Hall and the Valley Library. 

Election Day is Tuesday, Oct. 7, but final results won’t be certified until Oct. 21.

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections. 

Voters will decide this fall whether to adopt a seasonal sales tax to make the most of the more than a million cruise ship passengers who visit Juneau each summer.

Some residents are wary of the idea.

It was a rainy September day on Thursday, but the wet sidewalks and streets were still lined with cruise ship passengers donning thin plastic ponchos and holding shopping bags.  

Mickey Hall and her friends, Russ and Pat Genzmer, stood outside the Alaska Shirt Company in downtown Juneau. They were all holding the store’s iconic, bright red shopping bags. 

“I got a sweatshirt, and my grandson got socks,” Hall said, laughing. 

They were in Juneau for the day, visiting off the Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship. Without looking at their receipts, they couldn’t say how much they paid in local sales taxes on the souvenirs they just bought. 

“What is the sales rate?” Hall asked.

“I thought it was free,” Genzmer said, laughing. “I thought they had no sales tax in Alaska.”

That’s half true. While Alaska has no statewide general sales taxes, many municipalities have their own local taxes. In Juneau, that’s 5% on goods sold year-round. But that could soon change. 

Juneau voters will decide this October whether the city should implement a new seasonal sales tax system. The city would bump its tax rate up in the summer when tourists are in town to 7.5%, then lower it to 3% in the winter to give locals a break.

The change would apply to most residents, with a few exemptions. Advocates for the system say it’s meant to take advantage of the summer tourists while also giving some winter relief to year-round residents. Juneau Assembly member Neil Steininger supports the idea. He’s an economist and previously served as director of the Office of Management and Budget for the state.

“We have a lot of out-of-town visitors, and we have a lot of economic activity from non-residents in the summer, and so it allows us to shift some of that tax burden away from residents, making it even more affordable for individual residents in Juneau,” he said. 

While cruise ship passengers Hall and the Genzmers say they won’t lose sleep over the tax increase, not everyone is on board. 

Juneau resident Wayne Coogan is co-owner and general manager of Coogan Construction. He said he’s worried that implementing a seasonal tax structure in Juneau will disproportionately affect construction spending. 

“Everyone knows that the construction industry, to a great degree, goes to sleep in the wintertime,” he said. “They bed down and wait for the weather to come back for what’s called the construction season. And so the heavy spending occurs in the summertime.”

While Juneau’s city government does offer some sales tax exemptions for construction materials, it doesn’t cover everything. Coogan said the seasonal change will make buying goods in the summer more expensive, which will eventually trickle down to consumers.

But other locals, like Joel Ferrer, said he sees the logic behind the system. He lives in Juneau year-round and owns a tourist shop downtown. He says he is willing to try it.

“The bottom line is, like, there’s no perfect system. There’s always going to be a glitch, or some people will be affected in a positive way. Some will be a negative way,” he said. “No one’s going to be totally happy with whichever.”

Other Southeast Alaska tourism towns like Ketchikan, Sitka, Craig, Pelican and Skagway have already adopted seasonal tax structures. All of them see a significant amount of summer tourism. 

Ketchikan implemented a seasonal sales tax structure within city limits in 2023. The borough has a population of about 14,000 year-round residents, but it sees more than a million tourists each year. 

Ketchikan Mayor Bob Sivertsen said the tax structure just makes sense.  

“The reality of it is, the community sees our resources being used, our streets being crowded,” he said. “I think they see this as a positive way for the community to utilize the economy that we have, which is the seasonal economy, in the best interest of the community.”

The additional revenue the city takes in from the new system goes into its general fund and has paid for things like wage increases for city workers. Sivertsen said he hasn’t heard much backlash from the community about the system. 

“We all understand that we have to pay for the services we get, but if we can get the visitors to pay for a larger portion of that in a short period of time, it makes sense,” he said. 

Janice Walker runs Madison Lumber and Hardware in Ketchikan. She said while the new system hasn’t dramatically changed her business, it does cause some headaches. 

“It’s just something every six months we have to do, and then they also have a sales tax-free day down here, so you got to do it for that day,” she said. “Anyways, for the retailer, it makes it a little more difficult.”

She said she supports the change as long as the revenue that the city takes in goes toward services that benefit year-round residents. 

In Juneau, the sales tax boost in the summer is intended to offset another ballot question that would exempt essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax.

The cruise ship passengers on Franklin Street, Hall and the Genzmers, say go for it. 

“Good for you guys,” Hall said. “People live here — they deserve a break.”

But it’s not up to them. Juneau voters will decide.

The last day to vote in Juneau’s by-mail election is Oct. 7. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters on Friday. Completed ballots can be returned by mail, in city drop boxes starting Friday, or to city vote centers starting Monday. 

More information about when and how to vote can be found at juneau.org/elections. 

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.

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Juneau’s 2025 municipal election is just around the corner. Candidates for Juneau Assembly and school board are on the ballot this year, alongside three questions.

Ballot propositions one and two aim to reduce the tax burden on individual residents, but officials say that will come at a cost to the city’s coffers. Ballot proposition three attempts to boost city tax revenue by increasing the sales tax rate when cruise tourists are in town, then lowering it again in the off-season. 

Christine Woll is a longtime Juneau Assembly member and chairs its finance committee. 

“I actually think this is probably the most consequential election we’ve had locally in the 15 years I’ve been here in Juneau,” she said. “Each of these will have a big impact on the city’s budget and ability to fund services in our community.”

An advocacy group called the Affordable Juneau Coalition gathered enough signatures this spring and summer to place propositions one and two on the ballot. Angela Rodell is the treasurer of the group and formerly ran the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. She said the propositions are designed to make Alaska’s capital city more affordable. 

“We have a very high cost of living, and that impacts almost everybody, except, obviously, the wealthy,” she said. 

Proposition 1

Proposition 1 seeks to cap the local property tax rate, also known as the mill rate. One mill is equal to $1 per $1000 in property value. 

“Everyone who owns property in Juneau pays property tax to the city based on the value of their property,” Woll said. “This would be capping the rate at which the Assembly can charge them for that.”

Right now, the city caps the mill rate at 12 mills. But, if voters pass Proposition 1 this election, that cap would be lowered to nine mills. 

Now, that change could lower property taxes for property owners. But it also means the city would take in less revenue each year. For each dollar the city collects in property taxes, a bit more than 50 cents goes toward education and a little under 40 cents goes toward city services. 

The rate cap wouldn’t be immediately devastating to the city’s roughly $140 million in annual discretionary revenue. But, Woll said over time it could substantially influence the city’s ability to fund the services residents usually expect. 

“It results in about a $2 million loss to city revenue every year, which is significant,” she said. “But when I think long term, it’s maybe less about the money and more about the city’s ability to respond to changing environments.”

The city estimates that owners with property assessed at half a million dollars or less would save about $80 per year in property taxes if the proposition passes and their home value stays the same. 

Woll said the proposition’s passing will be most beneficial to Juneau’s wealthiest residents and large commercial land owners — not low income people.

“That’s kind of the question that’s being asked this year is, ‘do you think we should be focusing on making this a community that has services for our lowest income people, or do you think that we should cut taxes for the wealthiest in the community to make things more affordable?’” she said. 

Rodell disputes that, and argues the change will force the Assembly to focus its spending on needs versus wants — something the Affordable Juneau Coalition thinks it hasn’t been focusing on. 

“I think we can figure out how to tighten that belt a little bit,” she said. “I think it’s really imperative that the city show its residents that they care about affordability and want to really focus on the things that make this community very livable.”

Proposition 2

Proposition 2 would also shrink the amount of revenue the city brings in each year. The proposition would exempt essential food and residential utilities from local sales tax. Right now, the city taxes food and utilities like just about everything else – at 5%. But if the initiative passes, it would drop to zero percent for everyone, regardless of their income. 

Economists say that taxes on food hit low-income people the hardest. Juneau Assembly member Neil Steininger is an economist, and he supports the concept. 

“We don’t have the supply chains that can provide us lower-cost food, like a lot of areas down south do,” he said. “That really impacts your day-to-day living, because you got to eat every day.”

But, he warns that the current 5% tax on food and utilities brings in a combined $10 to $12 million in revenue to the city annually. He said removing that tax would leave a serious hole in the city’s budget. 

“That’s more than just a little belt tightening, you know, that’s more than just, you know, buying less paper clips and buying less Post-it notes,” Steininger said. “That’s really looking at the overall spectrum of services we provide and choosing some to not provide.”

Proposition 3

That potential cut to services is why the Assembly put Proposition 3 on the ballot. It asks voters whether to implement a new seasonal sales tax system next year. They’re hoping it would recoup some of the revenue lost if the property tax or food and utility tax propositions are passed by voters. 

“The seasonal sales tax, basically will make up for that $9 to $12 million revenue loss by shifting the tax burden from residents to our summer visitors,” Woll said. 

This proposal would raise sales taxes in the summer months and lower them in the winter. It’s aimed at taking advantage of the roughly 1.7 million summer cruise ship tourism visitors that come to town each year. Other nearby Southeast towns like Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway have similar seasonal tax structures in place already.

Juneau currently charges 5% in local sales taxes. That’s made up of both permanent and temporary taxes. They help pay for general government costs, voter-approved projects and community interests.

If voters pass Proposition 3, shoppers would instead pay a 7.5% tax from April through September and a 3% tax from October through March. 

“We have a lot of out-of-town visitors, and we have a lot of economic activity from non-residents in the summer,” Steininger said. “It allows us to shift some of that tax burden away from residents, making it even more affordable for individual residents in Juneau.”

But Rodell said she’ll be voting no on the measure and the Affordable Juneau Coalition is advocating against it. Her opinion is that it won’t actually save money for year-round residents and businesses. 

“It needs to go back to the drawing board,” she said. “They need to do a better job about defining how it’s going to help the residents of this community.”

The last day to vote in Juneau’s by-mail election is Oct. 7. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters Friday. Completed ballots can be returned by mail, in city drop boxes starting Friday or to city vote centers starting Monday. 

More information about when and how to vote can be found at juneau.org/elections. 

Find the latest local election coverage at ktoo.org/elections.