By SUZANNE DOWNING
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance has pulled her proposed 3% sales tax from Tuesday night’s Assembly agenda and replaced it with a new plan to raise $12 million through a one-time special school levy.
The move was foreshadowed last week by The Alaska Story, which reported that the sales tax was in trouble and that City Hall was preparing a fallback option that could raise money for schools.
That fallback is now in place.
Instead of advancing the sales tax, LaFrance asked the Assembly to place a “special school levy” on the agenda as a “laid on the table” item. The levy would direct $12 million in additional property tax revenue to the Anchorage School District.
The timing is key.
To place a tax on the municipal ballot, the city must meet strict public notice and deadline requirements. With the election calendar already underway, the window for putting a new tax before voters is either closing or already closed.
The $12 million would go to the Anchorage School District, which has been warning of budget shortfalls and potential cuts. However, because the levy is a one-time tax, it does not fix the district’s long-term funding gap. It simply shifts more of the burden onto local taxpayers for one year.
The mayor’s original 3% sales tax proposal had already faced stiff resistance from residents, business groups, and Assembly members concerned about cost-of-living pressures and the lack of voter approval. By pulling it from the agenda, LaFrance avoided a likely defeat and replaced it with a tax for schools, more palatable for voters.
The Assembly meeting starts at 5:30 pm at the Loussac Library.
Is Mayor LaFrance going to pull the 3% daycare tax proposal off Tuesday’s agenda?
Is Mayor LaFrance going to pull the 3% daycare tax proposal off Tuesday’s agenda?
11 thoughts on “Anchorage mayor pulls sales tax, pushes $12 million school levy instead”
This woman, apparently the current Mayor, likely feared that widespread opposition to the sales tax would likely spill over into an effort to seek re-election. This episode will likely be included in the next edition of “Profiles in Cowardliness”.
Many factors have led to the current ASD budget gap but every year for the past eight years I have sponsored amendments to the ASD budget to reduce non-classroom related administrative spending. Every year they were rejected. Together with other budget reductions, I proposed millions of dollars of spending reductions were voted down.
I have argued repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, that before asking for more money the Board show state elected officials that the ASD was trying to be more responsible with spending and more reasonable with policies such as dropping DEI spending and the current mandate for using national common core.
My School Board term ends in April and I am running to replace Felix Riveria on the Anchorage Assembly. My website is donleyforalaska.com. There will be two open seats on the School Board in the coming April election.
Speaking only for myself and not the ASD or School Board.
Dave Donley
Your service in fighting these battles has been a credit to the community and yourself. Godspeed.
They could find that amount of money by cutting off the professionally homeless that they’re currently enabling. Watch… that “levy” will manifest itself as an additional ding on our property taxes. Her and the libs on the Assembly can never be trusted. In the 80s, I was lucky to be on an airplane flying from the slope to Anchorage. An Alaskan native onboard was have a good-natured, robust back and forth with a co-worker. At one point the native man says to the other guy “You’re a swivel dog!” Meaning, you’re not talking straight or, you’re full of bullsh-t. Pretty much sums up LaGrange and her crew. Swivel Dogs.
There’s one “Big Story”, that this ASD lies about..They HAVE the money.it’s hid in slush funds in many of the individual schools slush funds., which is all scttered around.
I recently retired. My wife still works, but nevertheless we are experiencing a “revenue gap”. Rather than me telling the wife to earn more…and rather than her telling me to go back to work… we’ve reduced our spending. Seems to work…I’d be happy to walk ASD through the concept of reducing spending and once they understood the concept, I could probably come up with a suggestion or two of where to reduce spending
I’ll join you. I have some experience educating, feeding, and housing several children for waaaaaaay less than $18,000 per child, per year. And these kids aren’t behind in their test scores.
After the PFD was looted for” education”” last year they can stuff that New reach into my wallet!
We teachers are not seeing ASD dollars rewarding good teaching, reducing class sizes, or trimming head shed largess.
We’ve seen millions of dollars go to well-intentioned but poorly planned programs that can’t move the needle.
“Mismanagement” is what Member Yarrow Silvers called it at the last joint ASD/Assembly meeting.
Leadership keeps asking for more and more, but does not give us, in a legally-binding manner, plans for using the “more” more wisely. The latest verbal promise is not legally binding, and we’ve seen those before.
Property tax payers and renters, please let ASD know it’s time to be responsible, forthright and efficient, just like all of us adults had to be in the post-Covid times. Say no to any funding that doesn’t come with real reform and accountability that will create changes in how the district is run. Us teachers need change.
If we look at a span of a few years, we are no longer talking millions of poorly spent dollars but many BILLIONS.
Hmm $12 million is an interesting number, considering that ASD announced they are $90 million in the hole (at least last I heard). So I have to wonder what that really is all about. It seems like a very specific number and the stated reason for the levy makes no sense. The next question is, will this tax levy go into the general fund to just disappear once co-mingled???
In my opinion since ASD can find enough change in the proverbial couch cushions to rebuild Inlet View Elementary, after the voters turned them down, then they do NOT need more funds.
This all seems very weird!