Ketchikan voters decide who owns the library and who pays for it

Ketchikan voters will decide Oct. 6 whether the borough takes over the public library, its ownership, its operations and its debt, and whether people who live outside city limits pay twice as much for it.

The measure would raise the levy on non-city residents from 0.6 to 1.2 mills and tax Saxman residents for the first time. A mill is a dollar per $1,000 of assessed value, so a $300,000 home outside the city would go from about $180 a year to $360.

Those residents already supply about 40 percent of the library's funding.

The measure needs majority support both inside and outside city limits to pass.

The vote follows the Assembly's decision in May, on a 5-2 vote, to end the 40-year funding agreement between the city and the borough as of Dec. 31, 2026. Assembly member Kathy Bolling voted against terminating it.

Voters must be registered 30 days ahead, by Sept. 6. Saxman residents vote at the Saxman Community Center.