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Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.

0:24
Scott Smiley“There seems to be a conception that we have some kind of authority over the budget of the school district. We don't. They have the authority over the school district's budget. That's their business to do. They have cut more than $2.7 million this year and $2.5 to $2.7 million for the year before that and the year before that.”

Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Regular Meeting of May 21, 2026 · May 21, 2026

0:21
Bo Sedillo-Whiteside“move to amend Resolution Number FY 2027-01 for the amount to be made available to the Kodiak Island Borough School District from local sources for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027, is set at $13,779,556 for both in-kind services and direct appropriation.”

Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Regular Meeting of May 21, 2026 · May 21, 2026

1:05
Nicholas Fulford“one of the advantages of the volumetric tax is that if you double the— or if you increase the capacity of the LNG project, you're also multiplying the AVT. Whereas you wouldn't be multiplying the property tax.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

0:38
Nicholas Fulford“the difference between those two scenarios is very material indeed. So, so it, it brings the question away from, you know, a kind of substantial improvement in project economics versus where you're at in terms of this penny, two pennies, whatever it is to get the project economic.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

0:28
Sara Hannan“one of the more common things I see through it, that chart, both from property tax and sales tax, is a 10-year abatement of taxes, not permanent or in perpetuity. So when—. Talk to me about how come in Alaska we're looking at longer abatement than that, or is 10 years work? And it —seems to work in Louisiana, Texas, and maybe Maryland.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

0:59
Nicholas Fulford“from a fiscal stability point of view and, and being able to predict what's going to happen, you know, 5, 10, 20 years down the road, that's the other problem with property tax is that you don't really know what that tax is going to be. And as lenders and other people look at the project and they look at that degree of unpredictability, effectively they'll assign a risk to it and the cost of capital or the cost of debt will be higher and the project will be less competitive.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

0:13
Nicholas Fulford“alleviating the tax burden on the project for that first 10, 10 years or so is of far more importance than what you do after 10 years.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

0:26
Nicholas Fulford“if the main LNG project doesn't work, then a 42-inch line all the way down from the slope is a very, very expensive way of getting gas to South Central.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

1:08
Nicholas Fulford“the one thing that you could probably do which would help that dialogue go forward is really what we're here discussing today, which is to put in place a more appropriate framework around property tax or whatever replaces it. Because undoubtedly what goes on in the legislature, you know, obviously it has a lot of interest from within the state, but, you know, some of these buyers who are looking at the project are also looking at what the legislature is doing.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

1:10
Nicholas Fulford“Really relatively quickly, we ramp up to about a $600 million tax requirement. And as you look at these slides, the way I like to look at it always is in the effect that this has on delivered gas, because ultimately that's the kind of competitive framework you're looking at.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

0:50
Nicholas Fulford“if you took 12.5% as the going rate for LNG, With the 6-cent tax, AVT, Alaska would be profitable somewhere around the sort of $65, $70 a barrel. So really any price greater than $65 or $70 a barrel, Alaska would be in the money. Equally with the property tax, you can see that that shifts slightly to the left— sorry, to the right. And, and you're really in more of a sort of 70-75.”

House Finance, 5/26/26, 1:30pm · May 26, 2026

0:23

Desiree Jackson

“We got together as a team, and I'll let my team introduce themselves here in a couple minutes. And we've already judged the seal oil and dry fish, and today we're in front of you to judge the seaweed.”

Native Food Contest, Celebration 2024 | Sealaska Heritage · May 26, 2026

0:34

Barbara Nelson

“our traditional foods, even my father used to say that food should be respected like medicine. They're good for us. They're good for our soul. But they also bring us together as a people.”

Native Food Contest, Celebration 2024 | Sealaska Heritage · May 26, 2026

0:42

Desiree Jackson

“each of us judges got a score sheet and we were able to score in 4 categories. We gave each category a 1 through 10. And so like for the seal oil, we judged it on freshness, on color, on taste, uh, And you know, with the dry fish, we looked at texture.”

Native Food Contest, Celebration 2024 | Sealaska Heritage · May 26, 2026

0:36

Desiree Jackson

“let's get some extra nutrients in today and try some of our seaweed, which is high in fiber and wonderful magnesium and other great nutrients for our bodies.”

Native Food Contest, Celebration 2024 | Sealaska Heritage · May 26, 2026

0:09

Desiree Jackson

“Sally Joseph, congratulations, you have gotten second place for our seaweed competition.”

Native Food Contest, Celebration 2024 | Sealaska Heritage · May 26, 2026

0:07

Barbara Nelson

“First place goes to Christina Weber. Congratulations. And again, they're all three winners.”

Native Food Contest, Celebration 2024 | Sealaska Heritage · May 26, 2026

0:53

Shawna Hildebrand

“For decades, these lands were protected under federal public land orders that helped safeguard important subsistence and wildlife areas. TCC warns that future management decisions could directly impact Alaska Native communities throughout the interior.”

TCC Weekly Episode 47 · May 18, 2026

0:04
Bob Lynn“There will be 3— there'll be 3 readings of that, correct?”

Assembly Meeting · May 5, 2026

0:33
Debra Adams“I agree that, um, one of the ways that we could, um, address the issue at this juncture is to cut it in half, but I would like to leave the door open to, to revisit that. And to explore our permanent fund. And, and how much money is in that fund and can we tap into some of it?”

5-6-2026 City Council Regular Meeting · May 7, 2026

0:25
Debra Adams“looking at our numbers, um, the 6th grade class moving into 7th grade, there are 36 students, and, um, none of the classrooms at the high school can fit 36 students”

5-6-2026 City Council Regular Meeting · May 7, 2026

0:14
“Alaska Heritage Institution through the KUWAHA grant TCL is now kindergarten through 8th grade.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:25

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“Last year was our first 8th grade class to graduate from TCLL, and I see our alumni are here.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:38

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“Miss Rene has been teaching our entire middle school 42 students all year. She has created dynamic lessons for them. She has tried her hardest to incorporate our language and culture”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:39

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“this year she's really locked in, and if I ask her to do something, she's happy to do it. For somebody who never wanted to talk throughout 6th grade, it is an amazing feat to have her get up here and present to you guys today in our language.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:21

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“their speeches, their presentation that they gave to you today, all I had to do was tell them, guide them in what to do, and they took it upon themselves to put this program together today”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:13
“Goonasheesh to the JSD Indian Studies program for helping us make our 8th grade trip happen.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:15

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“When the middle school expanded, these guys were in 6th grade. That was also the year that I started at TCL. So I kind of joked with them that I'm also in 8th grade this year”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:14
“we would like to say gunalchéesh to the entities that have also supported TCLL this year.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:21

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“all of our classes back at TCLL are also watching the live stream, and they'll be dancing. They'll be greeting us at the door and dancing our 8th graders back in and celebrating with them”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:35

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“In the beginning, many of these students, I couldn't get them to say anything, and now I can't get them to stop. Which is an amazing problem to have, especially when they're saying funny things in Tlingit even.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:26

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“we did a lot of lessons about how we're connected to each other. And who we are, our shagoon.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:35

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“when Ziana came to TCLL, she knew exactly who she was, and she told me, and that was amazing. Sometimes when we have new friends come to TCLL, we have to do a lot of research about who they are, but she knew exactly who she was.”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:12

Miss Nay (language teacher, TCLL)

“we have a beautiful tenak from Hinday to give our graduates, our 8th grade graduates today”

2026 TCLL Graduation | Sealaska Heritage · May 19, 2026

0:18
Jody Tow“operations is 10 mils in, in 2026, and then the debt service, which is the 0.57 plus the 0.36, is, um, $1.93 mils.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:32
Jody Tow“It's too soon to forecast out what the removal of the senior citizen exemption is doing to sales. However, I did do a slide for the first 2 months, January and February.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:34
Jody Tow“This year we've added an additional expense of the area-wide mill rate for operations. Uh, we are allowed to do this by charter section 1405. You'll see the 1.71 mills is included in that, and area-wide is For everyone, Service Area 1, area-wide is included, so that increased the $5 mils to $6.64 mils. That's an increase of $164 per $100,000 of assessed value.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:41
Jody Tow“By last year, or I guess this current year, we're using $770,000 of Secure Rural Schools. Next year, proposing to use just $660,000. We're trying to ratchet it down, and then, but in doing so, we're having to use more taxes to help pay for the school.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:29
Jody Tow“January totals, well, total sales that were exempted for seniors in 2025 was $527,000. In '26 for the same month, it was $74,000. And I don't think it'll be that high in the future for January. You can see how it went down quite a bit in February.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:11
Jody Tow“And so we did in January collect $26,000 more in sales tax than last year, and in February, $22,000 more.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:35
Jody Tow“We are going to have a few new slides. I'm going to talk about senior sales tax a little bit and how that's looking with the removal of the exemption.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:32
Jody Tow“future ordinances to increase revenues, um, the sales tax cap, that's going to come before the assembly at the second meeting of May.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:34
Jody Tow“Next year's expenses are 5% higher than last year's, and some of the reasons for this is an increase to vehicle replacement costs, 500 or 5% health insurance increase. And I just want to remind the assembly, our health insurance is about $1.8 million a year that we pay, and that includes the employee side and the borough side. So 5% of that is about $90,000.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:18
Jody Tow“In 2025, businesses exempted over $25 million in sales due to hitting the $1,200 sales tax cap.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:08
Jody Tow“Last year was 10.8. I mean, it's really almost flat, so this would be an increase of $13 per every $100,000 of assessed value.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:26
Jody Tow“Property tax is at the 10 mil cap for operations this year for Service Area 1. Of course, inflation and increased labor costs, union negotiations. I— we might approve this budget and then have to come back to you for a supplemental based on what happens in union negotiations.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:38
“Just so that there's no, I think that this is going to, this for me, well, it's going to, uh, raise a lot of concern, at least anybody that owns property off the road or off the island, because it is, it is increases Jody shows on her other slide. So just so you know up front that we will have people here talking about the increase.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

0:28
Jody Tow“Service Area 1, of course, will have the area-wide mill rates included in there, and then we'll have the Service Area 1 mill rate for operations of the things that area-wide doesn't pay for, like the police and things like that. And then we have our— Service Area 1 has debt service of 0.3%. $3.6 Mils to finish off paying for the aquatic center and the library.”

Assembly Meeting · Apr 30, 2026

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