City of Bethel is the municipal government that serves Bethel, Alaska, the hub city of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Its city council sets ordinances and budgets, and its commissions oversee the port, taxi fares and public safety.
Photo: Andrea Pokrzywinski via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · CC BY 2.0
cityofbethel.org ↗Bethel, AK 99559, USA
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Bethel proposals would forgive uncollected hotel sales tax and cut the 12% rate to 6%
Bethel City Manager Lori Strickler has proposed forgiving a 12% sales tax that hotels and short-term rentals never collected from guests. A second ordinance she sponsored would cut that tax to 6%. Both were on the City Council's Nov. 10 consent agenda for introduction, and a public hearing is set for Dec. 15.
City code puts two separate 12% taxes on lodging: a sales tax paid by the guest and a business tax on the operator's gross receipts from renting rooms. The forgiveness ordinance says the city "recently learned" that operators have been paying the business tax but never collecting the sales tax. The rate-cut ordinance says the city has historically collected only the business tax.
City Attorney Libby Bakalar concluded in a Nov. 3 memo to Strickler that both taxes apply, though she wrote that "the code could be clearer on this point." In her example, a guest who books three nights at $300 a night owes $108 in sales tax, which the hotel holds for the city. "That money never belongs to the operator," she wrote.
The first ordinance would let the city manager, with the council's agreement, waive the uncollected sales tax, interest and penalties on stays before Jan. 1, 2027. City code allows that when the manager finds, and the city attorney confirms, that a substantial share of a class of sellers never collected a tax. It does not cover sales tax collected from guests but never turned over to the city, the business tax or refunds of tax already paid. The ordinance says collecting the back tax "would create an unexpected financial obligation for affected businesses."
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Latest
November 2026
Bethel police, tribal court and clinic hosted a two-day suicide prevention training
Bethel police, ONC's tribal court and Bethel Family Clinic hosted a two-day suicide prevention training for local organizations, led by NAMI New Hampshire.
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Bethel problem property cases stall over owners it can't reach
Bethel is trying to clean up problem properties, but its tracking sheet shows what's in the way: dead owners, owners it can't reach and, at one shop, squatters.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Bethel tells water customers to get their lines and tanks ready for freeze-up
Bethel told water customers to turn on their heat trace or glycol and keep hookups reachable. If a service line freezes anyway, the owner has to fix it.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago3 min read
Bethel parks committee to discuss a $1 fitness center fix projected to save $46,000 a year
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Bethel parks committee will discuss reorganizing jobs around a fitness center manager
Bethel's parks committee will weigh a plan for a fitness center manager. It would cut committee record-keeping from the job as an "inefficient use of time."
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Bethel offers free bus rides to the Cultural Center polling place on Election Day
Bethel is offering free bus rides Tuesday to and from the Cultural Center polling place. The posted schedule's last stop there is 6 pm; polls close at 8.
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Bethel has 36 of 121 city jobs open, including most of its water and sewer haulers
Bethel has 36 of 121 city jobs open, including 14 of 19 on the crew that trucks water and hauls sewage. Police and dispatch are short-handed, too.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
October 2026
Bethel tells Bethel Heights water customers to boil water after E. coli test
About 2,200 Bethel residents on the Bethel Heights piped water system should boil their water after a sample tested positive for E. coli, the city said.
by Alaska News2w ago1 min read
Bethel's landfill score drops to 69.6% on its state inspection, down from 90.9%
Bethel's landfill score on its state inspection fell from 90.9% to 69.6%. The state flagged undrained vehicles and no one checking incoming trash loads.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Bethel residents press for higher firefighter pay as union contract talks continue
Six Bethel residents asked the council to pay firefighters more, as union talks continue and the fire department prepares for staffing reductions.
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Bethel council to consider backing AVCP plan for a regional emergency response system
Bethel's mayor wants the City Council to back AVCP's plan for a tribally led public safety and emergency response system for Western Alaska, hub in Bethel.
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Bethel council to hear plan for statewide commission to collect taxes on platform sales
Bethel may hand a statewide commission the job of collecting its sales and bed taxes on lodging, delivery and travel sold through online platforms.
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Bethel hires a Louisiana firm to audit local businesses for unpaid city taxes
Bethel hired a Louisiana firm, without bidding, to audit local businesses for unpaid city taxes. It meets the Finance Committee Monday. Final price: not public.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Bethel council elects mayor Tuesday after election brings in Joseph Klejka
Bethel's council picks its mayor by secret ballot Tuesday, two weeks after about 7% of the city's voters returned three incumbents and replaced a fourth.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Klejka wins Bethel's fourth council seat by 15 votes after canvass
Joseph Klejka won Bethel's last council seat by 15 votes. The resolution certifying it gives him a "one-year term ending October 2028," a math problem.
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Bethel council holds hearing Tuesday on leasing six city lots to Alaska Directional
Bethel City Council holds a public hearing Tuesday on leasing six city lots to a Palmer fiber contractor for $16,800 a month without taking competitive bids.
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About City of Bethel
Photo: Andrea Pokrzywinski via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · CC BY 2.0
cityofbethel.org ↗Bethel, AK 99559, USA
The City of Bethel is the municipal government that serves Bethel, the hub city of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Its city council passes ordinances and budgets and chooses the mayor from among its members, and its commissions oversee the port, taxi fares, planning and public safety.
The city runs piped and hauled water and sewer service, the landfill, police and firefighters, and facilities such as its gym and fitness center. Water quality and sewage leaks are recurring concerns, and the city holds hearings to abate nuisance properties that sit empty or damaged. The council also regulates taxis, collects taxes and leases city land.
The Port of Bethel's dock on the Kuskokwim River is the freight lifeline for the city and the roadless region around it. State loans and grants pay for much of the city's water system work.
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Three more Bethel properties head toward City Council nuisance abatement hearings
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Bethel commission to consider raising maximum cab fares by $2 and taxi fees about 30%
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Bethel commission to weigh $675,000 gravel trail to YKHC campus to replace closed boardwalk
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September 2026
Bethel police warn residents not to shoot suspected rabid animals in the head
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Bethel would lease city lots to a fiber contractor without taking bids
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by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Bethel council to authorize $5,200 culvert easements the city signed months ago
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Bethel's dock wall is failing and the Port Commission hasn't taken it up
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Bethel council to vote Sept. 22 on paying utilities for Atsaq Place supportive housing
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Two missing after boat overturns near Bethel
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Bethel's water plant has been sending filter backwash onto open ground
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A $2 fix could cut $49,944 a year off Bethel's fitness center energy bill
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The roof went on wrong at Bethel's gym expansion and has to come off
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Bethel's deadline to fix a sewage leak passed two weeks ago
Untreated sewage is leaking onto the ground at a Bethel house. The city's repair deadline passed two weeks ago with no word on whether it was met.
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Bethel Fire Department recruits nationally for a captain and firefighters
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Bethel council to take up a holiday rescheduling rule, in a code section that does not set meeting dates
Bethel's city council could reschedule meetings that fall on holidays under an ordinance introduced Tuesday, Sept. 8.
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August 2026
Short on officers, Bethel police look to grow their own with a cadet program
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Bethel commission recommends $2 taxi fare increase, with $1 elder discount
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Bethel weighs letting its manager file lawsuits without council approval
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Bethel would move sand shed money to road salt and water plant engineering
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Bethel wants a Louisiana firm to audit local businesses for unpaid sales tax, without bidding
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Bethel shut off a home's water to stop raw sewage, and the resident turned it back on
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Thursday is the last day to file for Bethel city council
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The body overseeing the Y-K Delta's only fuel lifeline hasn't been able to meet in a year
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