Anchorage police and fire chiefs say meeting demand would take about 100 more staff each

Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case told an Assembly-hosted fiscal summit Friday that his department needs about 100 more officers to meet what the community expects. Fire Chief Doug Schrage said cutting response times by adding a fourth shift would take a similar number: over 100 more employees and more than $20 million a year.

Neither is in next year's plan. The proposed 2027 general-government operating budget totals $692.5 million and sits $34,000 under the property tax cap voters approved in 1983. The cap limits the budget to the prior year's, adjusted for inflation, population change and new construction, and only voters can change it. The administration closed a $15 million gap with $12.1 million in one-time funds. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance told the summit that money won't be there next year and the projected gap nearly doubles in 2028.

Anchorage's cap rises $18.5 million next year to $381.7 million, Alaska News reported Sept. 18.

Case said the department needs about 50 officers just to begin answering current demand, and another 50 beyond that. Departments were asked to show what a 5% cut would look like. Case said only about 8% of his budget is non-labor spending, so a cut that size would come from staff: clinicians, school resource officers and the mobile intervention team would go first.

Schrage said the department has added one station since 1983 and closed Station 2 on Government Hill. "Our response times have eroded over the last couple of decades," he said, as call volume rose. Ona Brause, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said $20 million in the area-wide service area would cost each household an added $11 per $100,000 in assessed value.

Public Works Director Kent Kohlhase said the road bond was $34 million in both 2009 and 2025. Citing a ChatGPT estimate of 42% inflation, he said it now buys about 60% as much. State road grants totaled $450 million from 2005 to 2014, but $16 million from 2015 to 2026.

Municipal Manager William Falsey said state money once covered about a quarter of the local budget and now covers less than 1%. Police, fire and maintenance make up about two-thirds of the budget, and he said sparing them from cuts magnifies the cuts for smaller agencies.

The Assembly takes public testimony on the budget Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the Loussac Library and votes Nov. 17.