Juneau Assembly pulls a $16M school bond from the fall ballot

Juneau voters won't decide a $16 million school bond this fall. The Assembly pulled it Monday on a 5-2 vote, sending it back into next year's budget process instead of onto the Oct. 6 ballot.

Part of the reason was a mistake caught just in time. The city attorney warned that the ballot language, as written, would have disqualified the bonds from state school debt reimbursement — a program that only just returned this year after roughly five years frozen. State law requires the ballot to spell out the project cost, interest, operating costs, and what shares the state and the city would each pay. Fixing it would have taken school board sign-off before ballots go to the printer Friday, plus a trip to the state education department. There wasn't time.

But the deeper split was about money and nerve. Members backing the delay pointed to shaky city revenue and a ballot already crowded with measures. "As much as I hate to kick this can down the road, I think that it is far more important that we stabilize our revenue," one said. Deputy Mayor Smith noted the city already sends the district $1 million a year for deferred maintenance.

The two dissenters warned the delay only raises the bill. "When we put off major capital improvements, things like roofs, things like a major HVAC, the cost goes up. It does not go down," one said. Juneau last bonded for school work in 2020.