Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File

Opinion: City election results should give pause

City leaders need to ask themselves, what happened?

  • By Win Gruening
  • Thursday, October 13, 2022 5:27pm
  • Opinion

Leading up to Juneau’s Oct. 4 municipal election, arguments for and against several ballot propositions dominated social media, Juneau Empire pages, radio airwaves and yard signs. All candidates on the ballot ran unopposed which focused even more attention on ballot issues.

It’s rare when an Assembly-sponsored bond proposition doesn’t pass muster with the electorate and even more uncommon when a CBJ ordinance is repealed by voters. But it’s possible both of those outcomes may come to pass.

Two of the four ballot issues, Proposition 1 and Proposition 4, were the subject of some controversy. The first authorized issuance of $35 million in general obligation bond debt to partially pay for construction of a new City Hall and the second repealed recently enacted CBJ Code requiring disclosure of prices realized in private real estate transactions.

The first round of election results showed the new City Hall funding losing narrowly and the repeal of real estate disclosure passing narrowly – both by less than 1%. Later vote counts widened those margins considerably. While it’s unlikely that remaining outstanding votes would change the end result, it’s still possible.

Regardless of the final outcome, city leaders need to ask themselves, what happened?

The last several years of COVID relief have effectively masked deficit spending that has proceeded unchecked at City Hall and allowed the Assembly to delay taking the necessary steps that would balance revenues and expenditures. Instead, city leaders have ignored the growing concern of taxpayers over the mounting list of expensive projects being promoted along with the recent steep escalation in commercial and residential property taxes.

Juneau’s economy has also shifted somewhat over the past two years. Voters have found it hard to ignore the number of empty storefronts and vacant commercial office space, not to mention our stagnant population and dwindling school enrollment.

With that as a backdrop, the Assembly and city staff rationale for a brand-new city hall with a $42 million price tag apparently did not reassure voters. The city’s own financial analysis indicated it would take 52 years to break-even and that was based on a lower construction cost and smaller bond amount than presented to voters.

Mandatory real estate disclosure, while not a tax measure or an authorization for expenditures, also failed to resonate with the public. Many voters rejected the Assembly-passed mandatory real estate disclosure because it was viewed as an over-reach and invasion of privacy (Juneau would have been the only city in Alaska with this requirement) coupled with a public distrust of city tax assessment policies. City staff explanations that mandatory disclosure would “equalize” property taxes and make them “more fair” did not convince property owners after many saw their tax bill increase dramatically and may have suffered through a long, contentious, and unsuccessful tax assessment appeal process.

Election results were probably also influenced by the Assembly’s single-minded determination to continue spending public funds on planning for a new ($77 million) civic center that included a grandiose arts and cultural facility component despite a less expensive project being rejected by

voters in 2019. This could explain some voters’ reluctance to approve additional spending elsewhere.

Will this election be a wake-up call for the Juneau Assembly?

Expenditure reductions, facility consolidations or closures, and elimination of sales tax exemptions should top the agenda before consideration of expensive replacements to city buildings serving staff and arts patrons.

Most importantly, economic development should be a high-priority topic at the Juneau Assembly’s next annual retreat on December 11. Years ago, the CBJ out-sourced economic development to the Juneau Economic Development Council which has been generously funded. But, as noted in Mark Lautman’s book, “When the Boomers Bail”, economic development is not simple. Lautman posits that almost everything that economic development specialists have traditionally promoted will be mostly useless in the coming decades. Shifting demographics, the lack of a properly educated workforce and competition to attract qualified talent will challenge even the most prosperous communities.

City leaders can meet this challenge by focusing more on growing the economy and less on growing the budget.

An expanded economy is the key to avoid saddling taxpayers with unnecessary taxes and debt.

• After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular Opinion Page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.

More in Opinion

Web
Have something to say?

Here’s how to add your voice to the conversation.

Dan Allard (right), a flood fighting expert for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, explains how Hesco barriers function at a table where miniature replicas of the three-foot square and four-foot high barriers are displayed during an open house Nov. 14 at Thunder Mountain Middle School to discuss flood prevention options in Juneau. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Our comfort with spectacle became a crisis

If I owned a home in the valley that was damaged by… Continue reading

The site of the now-closed Tulsequah Chief mine. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
My Turn: Maybe the news is ‘No new news’ on Canada’s plans for Tulsequah Chief mine cleanup

In 2015, the British Columbia government committed to ending Tulsequah Chief’s pollution… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter: Voter fact left out of news

With all the post-election analysis, one fact has escaped much publicity. When… Continue reading

The Alaska Psychiatric Institute in Anchorage. (Alaska Department of Family and Community Services photo)
My Turn: Rights for psychiatric patients must have state enforcement

Kim Kovol, commissioner of the state Department of Family and Community Services,… Continue reading

People living in areas affected by flooding from Suicide Basin pick up free sandbags on Oct. 20 at Thunder Mountain Middle School. (City and Borough of Juneau photo)
Opinion: Mired in bureaucracy, CBJ long-term flood fix advances at glacial pace

During meetings in Juneau last week, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)… Continue reading

Rosa Parks, whose civil rights legacy has recent been subject to revision in class curriculums. (Public domain photo from the National Archives and Records Administration Records)
My Turn: Proud to be ‘woke’

Wokeness: the quality of being alert to and concerned about social injustice… Continue reading

The settlement of Sermiligaaq in Greenland (Ray Swi-hymn / CC BY-SA 2.0)
My Turn: Making the Arctic great again

It was just over five years ago, in the summer of 2019,… Continue reading

The Alaska Psychiatric Institute in Anchorage. (Alaska Department of Family and Community Services photo)
My Turn: Small wins make big impacts at Alaska Psychiatric Institute

The Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API), an 80-bed psychiatric hospital located in Anchorage… Continue reading

President Donald Trump and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy pose for a photo aboard Air Force One during a stopover at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage in 2019. (Sheila Craighead / White House photo)
Opinion: Dunleavy has the prerequisite incompetence to work for Trump

On Tuesday it appeared that Gov. Mike Dunleavy was going to be… Continue reading

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, many Louisiana homes were rebuilt with the living space on the second story, with garage space below, to try to protect the home from future flooding. (Infrogmation of New Orleans via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA)
Misperceptions stand in way of disaster survivors wanting to rebuild safer, more sustainable homes

As Florida and the Southeast begin recovering from 2024’s destructive hurricanes, many… Continue reading