Kodiak held its tax rate down — and split over what it means for schools

Kodiak's assembly held the line on taxes for squeezed residents. Whether that quietly cost the schools $500K depends on which member you ask.

Faced with a choice between easing the squeeze on residents and collecting more for schools, the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly chose residents.

On a 5-2 vote Thursday, the assembly set the property tax rate at 8.75 mills, rejecting a push to raise it to 9.15 and send nearly half a million dollars more to the school district.

The majority pointed to a community already stretched thin: electric rates just jumped 12.5%, water and sewer could rise another 5%, and one member said his family nearly left the island over costs. "My family's back is breaking," he said. The lower rate, supporters noted, still raises school funding about $800,000 over last year and balances the budget.

The two dissenters warned of a hidden, lasting cost. Under the state's school-funding formula, what the borough collects this year sets the ceiling for next year — so by not taxing to that cap, they argued, about $500,000 in future capacity is gone for good. The majority read the same number the opposite way: capacity preserved, leaving room to raise taxes next year only if it's needed.

The schools can't afford the gamble, dissenters said: "We're not just cutting fat, we're cutting bone." The other side countered that the district had already found roughly $900,000 in savings without cutting a single position.

Both sides walked out agreeing on one figure — about $500,000 — and on almost nothing about what it means.