Juneau would borrow up to $24.7 million for the Seawalk and let cruise fees repay it

Juneau would borrow up to $24.7 million to rebuild and extend its downtown Seawalk, and cruise passengers would pay it back, under an ordinance the Assembly is set to introduce Monday.

The loan would be repaid over 20 years, at about $1.2 million a year, from the $3 port development fee Juneau charges each cruise passenger, according to the meeting agenda. It would not pledge any borough tax revenue or change the property tax rate the city levies to pay its debts. Because the bonds are backed by fees rather than taxes, the Assembly can approve them without a public vote.

The city has spent two decades building the waterfront path a stretch at a time. The next piece runs from Franklin Dock to AJ Dock, the farthest cruise dock, and includes driving 238 new steel piles, according to the city's state water quality application. Work is planned from April 2027 to April 2029.

The ordinance puts the full project at up to $50.4 million, with state grants, taxes and other cruise-related money covering the rest. In September, an Assembly committee steered a $6 million state grant the city never asked for to the Seawalk, Alaska News reported.

The existing Seawalk needs work too. At an April Assembly Finance Committee meeting, Visitor Industry Director Alexandra Pierce said passenger fees had kept pace with rising costs, but that the Seawalk will need continued funding because it is an old structure in need of major maintenance as well as expansion, according to the minutes.

The Finance Committee is set to review the bond Nov. 4, and a public hearing would follow at the next regular Assembly meeting.