ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
The cost of Anchorage's city government is going up, and so may your taxes. At a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Dan Sullivan unveiled a preview of the city's costs and revenues for next year.For the same amount of services as this year, the city's expenses are expected to rise more than $27 million. The city says if property taxes increase by 3 percent next year, that means the budget would still face an $18 million shortfall.
Even if the city’s taxes increase by 8 percent -- the most they can under the city's tax cap -- Sullivan says it would still face a shortfall of more than $8 million.
“It’s going to be some very interesting dialogue and decision-making with the Assembly over the next few months to figure out, basically, whether its $8.5 or $18 million -- that gap between revenues and expenditures, what are the priorities, what gets cut?” Sullivan said.
Sullivan must submit his final budget to the Assembly for review by October.
Contact Jason Lamb at jlamb@ktuu.com
