Juneau taxpayers at large would carry $4.7 million of the Mendenhall barrier bill as a quarter of the district objects

Most of the cost of Juneau's first phase of flood barriers would fall on city taxpayers at large rather than on the neighborhood they protect, under an amended proposal that follows objections from a quarter of the affected property owners and a lawsuit from one of them.

The amended local improvement district proposal assigns 60 percent of Phase 1's cost, about $4.7 million, to Juneau taxpayers generally, with properties inside the district paying the remaining 40 percent. Such a district charges owners who benefit from an improvement for part of its cost. Of 466 properties in the proposed district, 117 formally objected to an earlier plan charging affected owners about $6,300 each. Property owner Stephen Bower has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt or alter barrier installation, alleging permitting problems and issues with the district's funding structure.

The barriers exist because of the August 2024 glacial outburst flood, which crested at a record 15.99 feet and damaged roughly 290 residences. Juneau's emergency declaration at the time described hazardous material spills and the likely displacement of hundreds of people. Assembly minutes from that November put Phase 1 at an anticipated $7.83 million, with Phase 2 budgeted at $22 million.

On Monday the Assembly appropriated $582,000 for additional phases of the barriers, from a Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority grant, and $427,990 for 2024 flood response and repairs, from FEMA. The tribal grant traces to a 2024 Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska resolution naming the housing authority sole applicant for up to $900,000 in federal Indian Community Development Block Grant Imminent Threat funds. It repairs 1,300 feet of riverbank.

Who pays to keep the barriers up is not settled either. At an Aug. 31 worksession, Assembly Member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said Juneau has spent "a little under $10 million of like CBJ taxpayer money" on the barriers, thanks to grants and partnerships, and that the Army Corps has agreed it is responsible for ongoing barrier repairs. The city manager's memo for that same worksession says the city "will likely remain responsible for regular maintenance."

The Assembly also adopted transfers of $500,000 for riverbank restoration after the barriers come down and $4,033,711 toward repaying the state loan that financed them.