Anchorage's preliminary 2027 property tax cap rises to $381.7 million

Anchorage's cap on property taxes rises to $381.7 million next year, according to the preliminary 2027 limit calculation, up from $363.2 million in the revised 2026 limit. Whether the municipality collects the full $381.7 million will not be settled until April 2027. In 2026 it collected all but $325 of what the cap allowed.

The figure comes from the 2027 120-Day Memo, signed by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and prepared by the Office of Management and Budget. Anchorage Municipal Code requires the preliminary figures at least 120 days before the fiscal year ends. The memo reached the Anchorage Assembly on Sept. 2, and an Assembly work session takes it up Friday. The same formula raises the cap on all collectible taxes, property and non-property together, to $464.1 million, up from $448.6 million.

Last year's memo put the preliminary 2026 cap at $367.2 million, about $4 million above the revised limit that followed.

The memo lists 2027 property taxes to be collected, and the room left under the cap, as to be determined. The average 2026 tax rate was 8.97 mills, or $897 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, under the 2026 tax rate ordinance the Assembly passed April 28. That rate carries $393.4 million, more than the capped amount, because debt service sits outside the cap.

The cap follows a formula, not a dollar figure chosen by officials. It starts with prior-year taxes collected, then adjusts for population, inflation, new construction, voter-approved ballot measures, judgments and debt. It then subtracts non-property taxes such as the automobile, tobacco, motor vehicle rental and fuel excise taxes. "Thus, every dollar increase in revenue in non-property tax taxes translates into a dollar decrease in property taxes, and vice versa," the memo said.

Total non-property-tax revenue is projected $7.8 million below the 2026 budget, largely from a $6.3 million loss of one-time transfer revenue, money that does not repeat. A $3.0 million decline in non-property taxes subject to the tax limit, the taxes the formula deducts, is offset dollar for dollar by property tax capacity.

Ona Brause, the municipality's budget director, described the mechanics to the Assembly's Budget and Finance Committee on Thursday. She told members the cap governs how much can be added year over year in certain categories, without producing a set figure.

LaFrance delivers the 2027 proposed budget Oct. 2, with introduction Oct. 6. Public hearings are set for Oct. 20 and Nov. 4, and final action for Nov. 17. Rates get set in April, during first-quarter amendments, when the Assembly reopens the budget.