The Municipality of Anchorage’s contracted ballot printer will mail ballot packages Tuesday that include both candidates and a dozen bond measures for the upcoming April 1 election. Drop boxes will open Wednesday and voters also have the option of mailing in their ballots.
Every year Anchorage voters are faced with bonds and tax-cap busting propositions. Last year there were nine, and in 2023 there were 15 on the local ballot.
If voters approve all 12 bonds and special tax areas, it will burden property owners collectively with more than $100 million in new debt. That would cost the average Anchorage homeowner, depending on what part of the city they live, close to $300 in new property taxes a year until the bonds expire.
The most expensive bond, Proposition One, will borrow close to $64 million and add $52 to the cost of property taxes for the average homeowner.
The bond reads in part: “For the purpose of providing educational capital improvements, construction, upgrades, planning, design, and renovation of school facilities and educational facility building life extension projects within Anchorage, as provided in AO 2024-115, shall Anchorage borrow money and issue up to $63,822,000 in principal amount of general obligation bonds?”
Proposition Three, an $8.5 million bond, allows the city to borrow money while busting the tax cap. The largest part of the spending will go to lavish up Town Square in the heart of downtown Anchorage.
Town Square has in recent years become a hang out for mostly teen age gangs, vagrants, and drug pushers.
If voters do approve the tax cap busting bond, it’s doubtful most of those who typically hang out in Town Square will help carry the financial burden of the bond.
According to the real estate website, Rocket.com, the average price of a home in Anchorage in 2025 is up more than 6% over last year and sits at close to $400,000 a year.
The website, Ownwell, reports Anchorage homeowner’s typical annual property tax bill of more than $5,600 is double of the national medium homeowner in the U.S. The median household income in Anchorage is approximately $95,000.
In April of last year, Anchorage voters approved another slew of bond proposals adding more than $125 million in debt to homeowners. If voters do the same this year, Anchorage voters will have burdened property owners with more than $225 million in new taxes in a 12 month period.
Earlier this week, Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness executive director Meg Zaletel warned of a housing affordability crisis in Alaska’s largest city.
“In just two-and-a-half days, 1,300 households said they were either 14 days from losing their housing or already experiencing homelessness,” Zaletel told Alaska Public Media.
“That’s shocking, quite frankly,” she added. “Those households, 808 of them have a child.”
If Anchorage voters approve the more than $100 million in new bonds, the number of victims of the “housing affordability crisis” will only grow.
You can read more about each bond proposal by clicking on this link.
Dan Fagan reports and writes columns for Must Read Alaska. He’s covered Alaska politics for close to 30-years. He currently hosts a morning drive radio talk show on 1020 am 92.5 and 104.5 fm on KVNT. For news tips, email Dan at [email protected].
