Juneau Assembly votes 8-1 to end gondola deal, repay Goldbelt $12.2M

The Juneau Assembly voted 8–1 on May 18, 2026, to terminate the Eaglecrest gondola revenue-sharing agreement with Goldbelt and appropriate $12.2 million to repay the corporation. Staff said rising costs made the project financially infeasible.

The repayment includes $10 million in principal for the used Austrian gondola purchase plus roughly $2.2 million in interest calculated at 7 percent. The city will fund the payment with $2.7 million in deappropriated funds from the gondola capital improvement project and $9.5 million in unrestricted general funds.

Alaska News previously covered the Assembly Finance Committee's recommendation to end the gondola project and repay Goldbelt. In May 2022, CBJ staff informed the Assembly that the purchasing officer was processing bids to transport the used gondola from Austria to Juneau, with initial transport costs estimated at $400,000. Prior financial analysis indicated the project would require tens of millions of dollars in additional public subsidy beyond the $10 million purchase price to become operational.

The Assembly passed two separate ordinances. One authorized the city manager to terminate the revised revenue-sharing agreement. The second appropriated the $12.2 million repayment.

Deputy Manager Robert Barr said the project is not feasible to complete with public funds due to significant cost increases. Under the terms of the revenue-sharing agreement, the city may terminate the agreement provided that notice is given and the $10 million capital contribution, along with just short of three years of interest at 7 percent, is repaid.

Mayor Beth Weldon said ending the revenue-sharing agreement with Goldbelt does not mean the city cannot negotiate with Goldbelt or another third party. She said the city needs to study the decision-making process to avoid similar predicaments.

Assembly Member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs, who voted against the original gondola purchase, called for a formal post-mortem to understand how the city entered into the project. She said it is important to study the process after it is over to ensure the city does not make a mistake of the same magnitude again.

Assembly Member Christine Wall said the Assembly should end the agreement and pay Goldbelt quickly rather than spend a year negotiating while interest continues to accumulate. She said that by her calculation, continuing to negotiate with Goldbelt for another year would cost almost another million dollars in interest.

Assembly Member Paul Brooks objected to the termination. He said he would prefer to wait one more year to see what comes of the situation. He said the interest would gain during that time, but the city would have the possibility of not depleting its fund balance and having grace for tough times. Brooks also said he would rather have some of that money available for potential health and safety emergencies such as glacial outburst flooding or infrastructure failures. Brooks cast the lone dissenting vote.