Utqiaġvik council weighs letting mayor seek $4.5 million NPR-A grant for city operations

The Utqiaġvik City Council on Thursday will consider a resolution authorizing Mayor Asisaun Toovak to apply for a $4.5 million state grant for city government operations.

The money would come from the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) Impact Mitigation Program. The Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development runs the program to help municipalities address the effects of oil and gas development in the reserve. Those effects include impacts on population, employment, local finances, social and cultural values, air and water quality, fish and wildlife habitat and essential public services such as government administration. State law requires the program to give priority to municipalities facing the most direct or severe impacts.

The resolution would let Toovak submit the application and sign grant documents for the city. It names governmental operations as the purpose but identifies no specific project or spending breakdown.

An application is not an award. NPR-A grants are paid only after the Alaska Legislature approves the money in the state budget, according to the state commerce department. Applications must be postmarked by Nov. 15 each year.

The department's 2026 report to the Legislature recommended $3 million for Utqiaġvik's local operations in the fiscal 2026 cycle, part of about $18.2 million recommended for five cities and the North Slope Borough. The records do not show how that figure relates to the $4.5 million application; the two may concern different funding cycles. The state's enacted fiscal 2026 budget estimated $29.5 million would be appropriated from the NPR-A fund for capital project grants.

At an August North Slope Borough Assembly meeting, the borough's mayor's report said NPR-A impact funding had been cut, then restored in the final state capital budget after "months of coordinated advocacy."

Money from other governments made up 75% of Utqiaġvik's revenue in fiscal 2026, according to the city's preliminary, unaudited financial report for the period ending June 30.

The same report says the city had not finalized its fiscal 2020 audit because some records were missing. Some grant records could not be recovered, and management will work with the auditor on other ways to verify them, the report says.