Juneau voters said no last fall to a proposed bond that would build a new city hall. The Juneau Assembly wants a do-over and on Monday authorized city staff to to spend up to $50,000 lobbying voters to say yes to it next time it’s on the ballot, which appears to be this October.
The city staff will not be providing neutral information to voters, but will spend time pushing information in support of the project, with the intent to sway the voters to be in favor of the initiative that would fund $35 million of the approximately $42 million project.
City Manager Rorie Watt has continued to push the new city hall, even though it comes at a time when property taxes have sent property owners reeling.
Property assessments have soared in Juneau. In 2020, the average home was assessed at $429,000, but that went up to $527,000 in 2022. The mill rate went down slightly, but not enough to offset the high valuations set by the assessor’s office.
“Clearly, we would be trying to influence the outcome of the election,” Watt told the Assembly.
Several Juneau residents called out the Assembly on what appears to be a disregard of the voters’ will. After all, even though an online survey was conducted by the city’s consultant showed support for the project before it was placed on the ballot last year, the survey respondents were self-selecting and heavily weighted toward people who live in downtown Juneau, where Democrats dominate and like to spend on government. Fully 17% of respondents work for the city.
In other words, the survey design and responses show that the city has already spent taxpayer money to come up with the answer the Assembly wanted, which was used to try to convince the foot-draggers, critics told Must Read Alaska.
What the entire community actually thought was revealed in the real poll — the one at the ballot box.
“They voted nay on the project. We’re using their money to advocate against their vote,” said Wayne Coogan, a critic of government waste.
Others noted that the city has allowed the exterior of the current city hall building to fall into disrepair on purpose, in order to sway the public to support the $35 million bond. The existing city hall is aging and its exterior paint is unsightly. The building, built in the 1950s, needs about $12 million in upgrades to extend its life for another 25 years, the city says. There are other buildings in Juneau built in the same era that have been well maintained over the years.
Critics counter that the Juneau Assembly could have purchased the vacant Walmart building when it went up for sale at a reduced price last year, but instead caved to liberals who want to build a shrine to government downtown.
The Juneau Assembly has instead spent nearly $46 million in taxpayer funds to date for the planned construction of two government buildings, rejected by voters, which are estimated to cost around $120 million together, according to columnist Win Gruening. The other building rejected by voters was the $70+ million civic center.
“Secondly, property tax assessments this year are rising an average of 16% (though some residents report increases of up to 40%), which negates any purported “reduction” in property taxes by the Assembly,” Gruening said.
The Juneau Assembly has yet to vote on whether to include the city hall bond proposal on the October ballot. The Assembly meets to determine that on July 10.
