The Affordable Juneau Coalition has successfully gathered the required number of signatures to advance three citizen-led initiatives intended to curb Assembly spending and improve affordability in Alaska’s capital city. The initiatives are:
- Property Tax Cap: This measure would amend the city charter to set a cap of nine mills on the property tax rate. The current charter allows for a cap of 12 mills. The goal is to prevent future tax hikes and maintain the current property tax level.
- Sales Tax Exemption: This initiative seeks to exempt essential food and residential utilities from the city’s 5% sales tax. Prepared foods, such as restaurant meals, would continue to be taxed at the usual rate.
- Voting Reform Charter Amendment: This amendment would reverse the city’s current ordinance that prioritizes mail-in voting. If passed, it would require all local elections to be conducted primarily at polling places, with mail-in ballots still available upon request as absentee ballots. The change would mark a return to the pre-2020 in-person voting model, which was altered during the Covid-19 pandemic. Supporters argue the switch to mail-in voting has led to delays in election results and increased costs of elections.
The coalition plans to submit the petition booklets for notarization this week, ahead of the June 20 deadline. The group needed approximately 2,700 valid signatures, representing 25% of the votes cast in the most recent local election, to move the measures forward.
According to organizers, the most popular initiative among residents was the exemption for food and utilities, followed closely by the property tax cap. They reported strong public frustration with the city’s direction, which became apparent as petition-gatherers canvassed neighborhoods. Some residents reportedly expressed interest in a potential recall effort targeting the current mayor.
In anticipation of the measures potentially making the ballot, the Juneau Assembly has introduced an ordinance that would allocate $50,000 for advertising to oppose the initiatives, if they are certified by the city clerk. This mirrors a past effort by the Assembly, which used public funds to campaign against a citizen initiative aimed at blocking spending on a new, high-end city hall. In that case, voters ultimately sided with the initiative, despite the city-funded campaign opposing it.
Read more here:
Holy buckets! Juneau voters taking back control of the city’s fiscal insanity? Say it isn’t so! How can an assembly allocate taxpayer funds to oppose a CITIZEN initiative? Is that legal under the charter? Under current ordinance? Somebody needs to get digging & contact state AG Treg Taylor!
The CBJ’s decision to use public funds derived from the local taxpayers against the three ballot measures is silly and yet another example of the assembly being way out of touch with local citizens.
But, appropriating funds for propaganda is legal as long as the CBJ complies with Alaska Public Offices Commission standards.
So, the drill here is that using funds against the public may be stupid but it’s legal as long as the municipality adheres to APOC reporting requirements.
Blame this nonsense on The elected officials at the CBJ.
Renner that at the next election when they stand for re-election.
And don’t forget to vote to
$ave!
Classic CBJ…taxpayers push back on expenses, they raise expenses to push back on taxpayers pushing back on them. Punitive and tone-deaf. These people are unfit to represent.
They do seem to forget who they work for don’t tey.
Easy answer to cost of living in Juneau. Move the state capitol to Wasilla where the majority of the population resides.