Anchorage Assembly wants a lot more added back to budget, busting tax cap

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Property taxes

The Anchorage Assembly liberal majority doesn’t plan to let Mayor Dave Bronson cut the municipal budget as he has proposed. Bronson had to make $7.5 million in cuts in order to get the budget under the tax cap, after an Assembly and mayoral spending spree over the past six years created an unsustainable budget.

The Assembly is trying to claw back over $4 million of his cuts, with over half of its clawbacks showing no funding source at all, while other items raid the money that comes from utilities, which is obligated already.

That means busting through the tax cap, and paying for operations with bonds. The Assembly leadership, however, said in a press release that its add-backs won’t break the tax cap.

Some of the add-backs include:

$128,873 – Assembly members Forrest Dunbar, Austin Quinn-Davidson and Met Zaletel request to restore community grants

$125,000 – Assembly members Suzanne LaFrance and John Weddleton request to restore a partial budget cut to Girdwood EMS

$634,737 – Assembly members Chris Constant, Dunbar and Quinn-Davidson want to restore four positions set for elimination in Building Services

$20,000 – Assemblywoman LaFrance wants an audit increase for the Municipal Clerk.

$20,000 – LaFrance wants more for legal fees for interpreting cost increase.

$10,000 – LaFrance wants an increase for closed captioning services for the Assembly

$90,300 – LaFrance wants more adverting and printing/binding funds for the Elections division

$100,000 – LaFrance wants another administrative assistant for the Assembly. One was already added earlier this year.

$1.321 million – Dunbar and Quinn Davison want multiple positions in the health department to be paid for by alcohol taxes

$1 million – Perez-Verdia, Quinn-Davidson, and Zaletel want early education grants

The mayor has asked the Anchorage School District, which is awash in money, to pick up some of the cost of school resource officers. The Assembly liberal majority wants to put that back in the municipal budget.

The utility and enterprise funds that generate revenue are also compromised by the claw-backs. The Assembly majority proposes adding back spending to the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, but uses utility spending for that. That would mean there would be less available to spend for the obligations in the operating budget, something evidently not understood by the Assembly.

The mayor, who cut $7.5 million just to reach the tax cap, has a budget that comes in $149,000 under that cap.

The budget is on the agenda at the Nov. 23 meeting of the Anchorage Assembly. The meeting starts at 5 pm. The agenda is at this link.

You can watch the Assembly meeting at this link.


https://mustreadalaska.com/anchorage-budget-will-reduce-spending-by-7-5-million-and-stays-below-tax-cap/

14 COMMENTS

  1. The concept of “private property” is Sooooooo outmoded!

    You think you own your own home?

    You don’t.

    You only rent it from the liberal Democrat Party.

    Pay up and shut up. You had the chance to start re-balancing the assembly but you didn’t. You bought it – you own it.

  2. Why do you not know that any property tax is not legal unless you agree to be taxed? All property taxes should be nullified if you do not agree with a contract to be taxed. A sales tax is more viable. If you purchase something new. Anything already taxed should not be taxed again…..period. That is double taxation without representation.
    Property taxes are not needed once you have paid the initial tax.
    I do not want to hear how taxes support emergency services or just services for a community. If that were the truth then tell me why when my wife was transported to the hospital before she died by the Borough ems that she was billed over $ 800.00 for being transported to the hospital? All it is is a money scam and a con to have you pay for crap that is supposed to be included in your “property tax bill”.
    Read our original Constitution and you will see how a property tax is exempt from being in existence . All the property tax is is a threat that if you do not pay is we will, take your property. It is just another way they control everyone.
    Total BS,

  3. Of course they have a source of funding! Why they have the wallets of struggling families to continuously raid. After all “it’s for the children” even though the money never gets to where it’s suppose to go.

  4. Anchorage will never get anywhere until you remove these liberal clowns. All they know how to do is spend, and push radical ideology onto an unwilling populace. Wake up Anchorage. Wake TF up.

  5. This year was the first time my property taxes on my home went over the $6,000 mark – enough of this! I will vote NO on every bond request that comes up for vote from now on. These people have no regard for others hard earned money. Spending unwisely on things that benefit a few, and not those that provide the money in the first place. Quit giving handouts to those that won’t even make an attempt to help themselves.

    • Main reason for that increase was the State did not provide the $37.7M they promised for Bond debt servicing. Forcing the city to pay that cost themselves.
      .
      Read that again. The City got stuck with a $37.7M non-discretionary funding cost. The Assembly is fully aware of that. And, here they are, trying to increase how much they spend.
      .
      Really easy to spend other people’s money.

  6. The Anchorage Economic Development Corporation is neither economic, nor has it contributed to any development. Our mayor should sack the whole operation and start over with a real economic development office that reports to the Mayor.

  7. Just shows the Leftist Assembly does not understand how to balance a budget. No you can not balance the budget on the back of the Taxpayer either. The ASD already receives to much in Tax Revenue with a falling student base. The cuts to the ASD should happen regardless.

  8. Umm, no more 100k plus MOA positions please. The 4 positions for building services equates to 158k, per position. Time to tighten the belts and live within their means.

  9. Girdwood should be funding their own EMS since it now seems to be almost entirely made up of over privileged vacationing outsiders with their servants living 4 to a dorm room.

  10. Just declare the mayor a non person and get on with it.

    It’s amazing how few people in Anchorage actually give care about the Bolshevik takeover of Anchorage.

    Tell me again Alaska is a red state.

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