Anchorage's assessment appeal surge reaches hearings next week

Anchorage property owners who challenged their 2026 assessments go before the Board of Equalization in six hearings next week, where rulings can change assessed values and tax bills.

The Property Appraisal Division received nearly 2,000 appeals this year, enough that the Assembly appointed 12 additional board members in April to handle the volume. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance told the Assembly in February that staff had "received about 1,800 formal appeals, which is substantially more than last year."

At the mayor's direction, appraisers reviewed neighborhoods with unusually large increases and found homes in Goldenview Park, Sahalee, Lookout Landing and Leary Bay had been graded too high for quality of construction. About 660 homes will get lower assessments, and those notices have already been mailed.

The hearings run Aug. 18 through Aug. 21 at City Hall, with morning and afternoon sessions each day.

The municipality's guidance does not say whether owners who got a corrected notice must still appear. No appellant's account appears in its published record.