Anchorage Assembly

Anchorage schools model a $9 million budget gap for fiscal 2028

Anchorage schools project a $9 million fiscal 2028 gap after reserves and assumed energy relief. Officials say underlying cost growth is closer to $40 million.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Follows: Anchorage school district proposes splitting $32 million in one-time state money

Anchorage officials fail to agree on shared school-closure committee

The Assembly and School Board could not agree on giving both bodies votes on a school-closure committee. The existing board-led panel remains.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago5 min read

Follows: Assembly members seek equal vote on joint school rightsizing panel

Anchorage schedules Oct. 6 hearing on transit-corridor plan

Anchorage will hear testimony Oct. 6 on plan amendments calling for 25 to 36 homes per acre in designated transit corridors.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Anchorage service-area debate exposes unanswered questions about taxes and emergency coverage

Anchorage Assembly members questioned how service-area taxes match actual fire, emergency and parks coverage. Several answers remain unresolved.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Anchorage Assembly shelves mayor's homebuyer tax break 11-1

Anchorage Assembly indefinitely postponed a 10-year property-tax exemption for first-time buyers of newly built homes on an 11-1 vote, with members questioning the proposal's target and who would benefit.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage's new-home tax break would reach pricier houses under a revision

Anchorage housing overlay hearing carries to Oct. 6 after divided testimony

Anchorage heard nearly 90 minutes of divided housing testimony, then ran out of time. The 30,000-parcel overlay returns Oct. 6

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Anchorage wants 10,000 homes. Its zoning fight is over where they can fit.

Anchorage confirms drone deployment was omitted and checks for others

APD's manual drone log lost at least one deployment. Anchorage is checking for more omissions and owes the Assembly a revised report Oct. 6.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

Follows: APD's new drone notice leaves annual-report questions unanswered

A Dena'ina artist's work is headed for downtown Anchorage's signs

Dena'ina artist Sebastian Garber's MOA50 designs reach downtown Anchorage's wayfinding signs next year, drawing on Indigenous quillwork patterns.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Three students share the Anchorage Assembly's youth representative seat

Anchorage Assembly Chair Anna Brawley appointed three high school students to share the youth representative seat through April 2027, a nonbinding advisory role open to residents ages 16 to 19.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Anchorage police launch phased pre-arrest deflection pilot Sept. 23

Anchorage's deflection pilot begins Sept. 23. Police make the referral, True North handles navigation and community providers deliver treatment.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Anchorage's own campground isn't allowed under its park zoning

Anchorage's 84-site Centennial campground isn't permitted under the city's own park zoning. A proposed fix would legalize what's already there.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Anchorage weighs making its 49 neighborhood plans advisory only

Anchorage's 49 neighborhood plans carry the force of law today. The Assembly wants to know if they should just be advice — 70% have never been updated.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage named a day for Dolly Parton three weeks after her death

Anchorage kids get more than 73,000 free books a year in the mail. The Assembly named Sept. 25 for the woman behind it, three weeks after her death.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage assessment appeals hit a record, and the board filled up to cope

Anchorage owners filed a record 1,990 assessment appeals this year, quadruple last year's, and the board filled every seat for the first time in 20 years.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Follows: Anchorage tax appeal hearings continue into September, past the board's stated season

Mayor's substitute puts Anchorage's surveillance network before the Assembly Tuesday

Anchorage assembled cameras, drones, plate readers and commercial-data tools before writing enforceable rules for how police may use them.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago9 min readFrom Sep 9

Landmine publisher takes copyright-strike complaint against APD to Assembly Tuesday

Alaska Landmine publisher Jeff Landfield asked the Anchorage Assembly to address an APD copyright strike that temporarily removed a video critical of Police Chief Sean Case from Facebook.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 7

Assembly members seek equal vote on joint school rightsizing panel

Three Anchorage Assembly members want a real vote on how the city closes schools, not the non-voting seat the School Board offered, as consolidation looms.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The hockey association runs Anchorage's city rinks now, for $10 a year

The hockey association took over Anchorage's two city rinks in June for $10 a year. The old operator owed $360,000. The first big repair bill is Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The Port of Alaska's terminal design contract is up 50 percent and rising again

The Port of Alaska's Terminal 1 design contract is up 50 percent from 2023. Every year I got to come back for more, the port director says.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage grant would keep HIV testing and outreach going through 2027

A $114,470 state grant on the Anchorage Assembly's agenda would keep the city's offsite HIV education, counseling and testing running through June 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

An inspector cited Anchorage's ice rinks for safety valves a decade old

Safety valves at Anchorage's two city ice rinks were due for replacement five years ago. An inspector noticed. The fix is inside a $936,000 repair bill.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage's port cargo surcharge nearly triples to fund a rebuild

The surcharge on cargo through Anchorage's port nearly triples Jan. 1, the first step in paying for a $2 billion rebuild, and could hit $70 a ton by 2033.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The mayor wants two more members on a naming commission that cannot meet

Anchorage's naming commission has five members and needs five to meet, so it hasn't. The mayor wants two more confirmed before it expires next month.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Two closed Anchorage school buildings head back to municipal hands

Two closed Anchorage schools, Abbott Loop and Campbell STEM, are set to return to the municipality, moving their fate from the School Board to the Assembly.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage wants 10,000 homes. Its zoning fight is over where they can fit.

Anchorage wants 10,000 homes in 10 years. Tuesday's zoning fight is over where they can go — because adding homes means letting familiar blocks change.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago7 min read

Anchorage weighs a five-year road-sweeping contract for Eagle River

The Anchorage Assembly decides Tuesday whether to hire Big Bear to sweep road shoulders in the Eagle River area, at up to $2.97 million over five years.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A mobile home lot near Abbott Road could become business-zoned

A mobile home lot near Abbott Road would become business-zoned. Nobody objected, and a planner noted such changes can displace mobile-home residents.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage Assembly schedules Hispanic Heritage Month health fair with Spanish-speaking staff

Anchorage Assembly is scheduling a health fair with Spanish-speaking staff and translation services for Saturday, Oct. 3, as part of Hispanic Heritage Month events starting Sept. 20.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

An ordinance would tighten oversight of Anchorage's staffing overruns

Anchorage's government has run past its budgeted position count five years running. Three Assembly members want future overruns to need the mayor's sign-off.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage weighs $2.8M state payment, most of it for winter shelter

Anchorage cut $1 million in contracted surge shelter beds when alcohol tax revenue fell short. State money would put them back ahead of winter.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Sep 1

Anchorage marks Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month, now recognized in state law

Anchorage marks Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month for the third year, and the first under state law. Alaska's Hispanic history runs back to the canneries.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage Assembly takes up next year's budget priorities

The Anchorage Assembly takes up its budget priorities for the coming year Tuesday, along with two appointments to city commissions.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

An Anchorage housing ordinance does more than its title says

Anchorage's shop-house ordinance would also shrink the minimum commercial lot to about 2,700 square feet. The city says it outgrew its own title.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage Assembly ordinance restores parking permit rule its planning commission voted 8-0 to cut

Anchorage's planning commission voted unanimously to drop a parking lot restriction. The Assembly sponsors put it back in and will take it up Oct. 20.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage weighs who decides when cold-weather shelter opens

An Anchorage ordinance up Sept. 15 would let the health director decide when emergency shelter opens, replacing the current 45-degree trigger.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage could shrink its minimum lot size by two-thirds under a pending ordinance

Anchorage could cut its minimum single-family lot to a third of current size and let buildings cover 70 percent of it. The hearing is Sept. 15.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Jun 9

Anchorage auditors flag a gap in Assembly travel approvals

Anchorage auditors found signed approval on all 38 Assembly trips but could document a second 2025 step on only one of 15. A broader review is now underway.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min readFrom Sep 1

Follows: Fifteen Anchorage Assembly members will have their spending accounts examined in a 9-2 vote

A housing-zoning fix has stalled for months before Anchorage's appeals board

A housing-zoning fix has stalled before Anchorage's appeals board since spring — set aside twice — even as the administration pushes housing as a priority.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min readFrom Jun 11

Follows: Anchorage's planning director could approve bigger encroachments alone

Anchorage canceled five assessment appeal sessions over the summer

Five Anchorage assessment appeal sessions were canceled over the summer while the backlog stretched toward November. A report ordered in February is overdue.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage paid to expand the crime center, then put off the rules

Anchorage funded a $598,998 crime center expansion the same night it postponed the public hearing on rules meant to govern that center.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read