LaFrance asks residents to help decide what Anchorage keeps as a 2028 gap looms

Mayor Suzanne LaFrance asked Anchorage residents Friday to help decide which city services to keep and how to pay for them, telling a budget summit that the regular budget process alone won't close a gap the city projects at about $30 million in 2028.

The city faced an almost $15 million gap for next year. LaFrance's proposed 2027 budget closes it mostly with $12.1 million in one-time money, including $8.4 million left from the sale of the city's old electric utility. The administration also eliminated vacant funded positions and cut back on contracted services, its budget presentation says. The one-time money won't be there in 2028.

Property taxes pay for about half of the city's operations, according to an Assembly fact sheet. LaFrance proposed a 3% sales tax last fall, then in January asked the Assembly to set aside other revenue measures, saying a sales tax wouldn't bring in money for about two years.

Departments were asked to show what a 5% cut would look like, and their lists included closing three pools and cutting bus service.

The summit's hosts, Assembly Chair Anna Brawley of West Anchorage and Midtown Assembly member Erin Baldwin Day, focused on the city's tax cap. The cap, which voters added to the city charter in 1983, limits how much Anchorage can collect in taxes each year and grows mainly with inflation, population and new construction. The proposed budget sits $34,000 under it.

Only voters can change the cap, and putting a change on the April ballot would take eight of the Assembly's 12 votes. Baldwin Day said members differ on the cap. She and Brawley said they would change two parts of the formula: the population factor and the rule that lowers the cap when the city doesn't tax up to it.

The Assembly holds its last scheduled public hearing on the 2027 budget Nov. 4 and is set to vote Nov. 17.