The next Anchorage budget comes in $12 million under the tax cap, according to documents obtained from Mayor Dave Bronson’s office.
It is a conservative budget in an era of high inflation. The property taxes to be collected — a different matter from the tax cap — is $2.4 million less than in 2023. Every property taxpayer — house or commercial, would pay less property taxes, unless the liberal Anchorage Assembly adds back in spending.
The budget makes these cuts through efficiencies, not by cutting services.
The budget prioritizes safety, with no staff reductions in the fire and police departments. It adds $1.5 million for snow removall, and $132,000 for safety and OSHA compliance. The budget routes $250,000 of alcohol tax to education for Best Beginnings, and about the same amount to early childhood education grants.
Anchorage Senior Center received a slight bump of $50,000, as the center has not had a budget increase in several years.
The deadline for submitting the budget was 5 pm Oct. 1, and now the Assembly will study it and hold public hearings before returning its version back to the mayor with their individual amendments. The mayor can line-item veto additional spending but he is far outnumbered by a liberal supermajority.
“I conducted thorough reviews of each department’s budget and realized spending efficiencies,” Bronson said. “This review allowed us to improve government spending processes and brought us to a budget that is $2.4 million less than my proposed budget for 2023.”
He said that with the high cost of living, taxpayers need a break.
