Anchorage Assembly weighs $305,000 more for South Goldenview road repairs

The bill for last winter's Hillside road damage keeps growing. South Goldenview wants $305,000 more for repairs, the largest request yet from any of the neighborhoods that pay for their own roads.

Ice accumulation and spring runoff caused substantial erosion inside the South Goldenview Rural Road Service Area, according to a memorandum from Mayor Suzanne LaFrance. The area's board asked for the increase, which would raise the ceiling on its contract with Northern Gravel & Trucking to $3,455,000 if every renewal option is used.

It is not the first ask. The Assembly appropriated up to $200,000 from the same service area's savings in 2024 for the same purpose.

And it is not the only Hillside neighborhood asking. The SRW Homeowner's Limited Road Service Area sought $77,500 this summer after the same winter, Rabbit Creek View and Heights about $75,000, and Birch Tree/Elmore $213,150.

None of it comes from general city taxes. Hillside road service areas levy a property tax on the parcels inside them and pay a contractor out of that fund. Residents "are only responsible for paying for the maintenance on their little strip of road," Assembly member Erin Baldwin Day said at a budget workshop in January.

The contract itself is being rebid. A separate amendment extends the current arrangement through September 2026 while that process runs, with the same vendor continuing to work South Goldenview's roads in the meantime.

The Assembly takes it up Tuesday.