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The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday passed another record-setting 2019 municipal operating budget of $516,907,736, about $10 million higher than the revised 2018 budget. Yet, it was at least $6 million less than what Mayor Ethan Berkowitz had asked for.
The corresponding property taxes supporting the spending could climb even higher, however, depending on what the State Legislature and governor choose to do about school construction debt reimbursement. The governor has proposed not funding the payments on these loans taken out by local taxpayers year over year to build, improve, or expand schools. Some of these older bonds still need to be paid off, and that would fall to the property owners.
At the meeting, the Assembly discussed the real possibility that the green property tax cards that go out in the mail this month might not be the whole story for homeowners. Without the school debt reimbursement check from the state, taxes could go up another $180 for every $100,000 in property valuation.