Ron Somerville: Juneau Assembly’s fiscal arrogance may fuel a voter revolt

By RON SOMERVILLE

April 8, 2026 – I have hesitated to write this as I am fairly positive it will have no impact.  However, there are a few bits of information I think the Juneau Assembly should be aware of, although they were advised of this before and have been consistently reminded of the economic impacts.

I am putting this to paper because I am convinced most of the Juneau Assembly is unaware of the economic impacts of some of their decisions and refuse to accept the responsibility for some of their actions.

Years-ago the Assembly, with pressure from the Chamber of Commerce and despite the largest ever opposition from the public, decided that Juneau seniors needed to pay more for the luxury of living in Juneau.  The Assembly  took away a major portion of our sales tax exemption.

Many of us warned at the time that it was unfair to punish us for selecting Juneau for our retirement based on our financial benefits promised or provided at retirement.   We warned that the action would result in unintended consequences.  Those consequences came quickly.

Immediately seniors looked for ways to recoup their losses by searching the web for more fiscal options.  Amazon Prime was immediately on every senior’s computer and goods were ordered that were delivered directly to our door.  Seniors benefited with the local delivery, lower item costs and tax savings.   Unfortunately, the major losses went to the local businesses who lost million in sales income.

Eventually the city got back some of its sale taxes lost but not all of it and seniors continue to use the web heavily.  One of the unexpected unintended consequences is the fact that the assembly ignored that they created a permanent “no” vote on many fiscal policy decisions, like Bond proposals, placed before the public.

If you think they have forgotten, they haven’t.  If seniors calculate that they cannot take the additional taxes out of their discretionary funds, they vote “no”.  I do believe that the anti-assembly attitude of seniors contributed to the election of Nano Brooks this past fall as he seemed significantly more sympathetic to the concerns of the public.

The Assembly seems totally unaware of how their decisions affect the public and especially with how they are presented.   With the rising cost of everything in Juneau the Assembly disregards the impact of their decisions on the taxpayers. Most of us seniors are on fixed incomes and can only pass on a limited portion of our disposal income before we must make major fiscal changes, including leaving Juneau as an option. Another option is supporting major fiscal policy proposals through the ballot box as we did this last election.

Major fiscal policy processes need to be reevaluated.  If a bond issue is rejected by the voters, don’t immediately put it back on the ballot the next year just to prove you can.  Disregarding the clear vote of the public is dangerous.  It is exponentially more dangerous if you do it and lose again the second time.

When a fiscal proposal is rejected by the voters, do not fund it with other Borough income derived from the voters. This process clearly illustrates a disregard for the public’s money and a dangerous arrogance by the Assembly and Borough staff.

Most of us are familiar with failed projects and choose to eventually admit our mistake and correct it.  Although I have supported the Eaglecrest skiing program despite the growing subsidy provided by the city, the recent Gondola fiasco has pushed me over the edge.  False promises of rising user pay options demonstrate the continued ineptness of the Borough planning processes that are patently absurd.

However, you continue to believe we will support it forever. At what point will you say we cannot subsidize this project at this level? You don’t seem to realize that the public has no faith in your planning staff.  Please alter the minimum cost planning scenario for either a more realistic one or a worst-case scenario. The Eaglecrest gondola cost boondoggle cannot be ignored as simply faulty math.  It will be interesting how the Assembly explains to the public the cause of the unbelievable final cost and the eventual reimbursement to the Native corporation when the bill is due.

Other fiscal positions of the AJuneau ssembly continue to amaze us. The Assembly is spending millions of dollars on another bridge to Douglas Island while ignoring the fact that the present North Douglas Highway is inadequate to handle the expected traffic.  An immediate North Douglas bench road would provide immediate relief to the residents and would place much higher on the capital project list produced by DOTPF.

Despite the fact that voters rejected the new Borough office building twice and elaborate funding of a new entertainment center, the city continues to throw critical existing funds at these projects rather than showing good faith to the public and delaying the projects for several years. Existing critical programs like Mendenhall River flood control and important existing facility maintenance projects clearly have a higher priority in the minds of a majority of voters.  We believe the Assembly is fully aware of these priorities but choose to conveniently ignore them.

I have a recommendation: Use a zero-based budgeting process for one year.  Get a reasonable prediction of our annual Borough income, go through and list fiscal expenditures that are required like police, fire protection, emergency services, school support, harbors, Borough staffing and services, bond monies owed and critical maintenance projects.  Then individually add in programs and projects that are the highest priority for the Borough. When you reach 100% of your projected budget, stop.  If more monies arrive during the year, adjust the expenditure list accordingly.

I cannot understand why the Assembly does not address Win Gruening’s suggestion to remove some non-profit groups from the exempt sales taxes list. Shops sell to customers, both local and non-resident, and collecting the sales tax does not impact their businesses at all except for the record keeping. A significant amount of legitimate tax revenue is lost by exempting competitive businesses in our community.

Thanks for the opportunity to comment on our fiscal situation. Hopefully, my comments will be taken seriously.  If not, the Assembly’s relationship with voters will only continue to deteriorate.

Ron Somerville is a longtime resident of Juneau.