A proposed cap would limit how high Mat-Su can set its property tax rate

A proposed ordinance would cap the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's areawide property tax rate at 7 mills, below what the borough charges now, limiting how high future assemblies could set the rate that funds schools and borough services. The Assembly holds a public hearing on it Aug. 18.

A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value, so a 7-mill cap works out to $700 a year on a $100,000 home, or $2,100 on a $300,000 one. The cap would apply to the rate, not to total collections, which can still rise or fall as property values change. It would lower the borough's ceiling from 9.5 mills to 7. District 1 Assembly member Michael Bowles is the sponsor.

The borough's current areawide rate is already below the proposed cap. It adopted its 2027 budget in May at a rate of 7.955 mills, down from 8.485, a change the borough said would cut taxes about $54 for the average single-family home. A 7-mill cap would sit nearly a full mill under that current rate.

Bowles has pushed several tax proposals this year, including one to replace the areawide property tax with a sales tax. "This money belongs to the people that earn it," he said at an earlier meeting.

The borough has churned through competing tax ideas in recent months. Alaska News previously covered the assembly's 6-3 vote in May to pull a proposed areawide sales tax before it reached hearing, and its later rejection of a ballot measure swapping the property tax for a sales tax. The assembly hasn't acted on the cap, and won't vote before the hearing closes.