Borough board upholds assessor, denies Alutiiq Heritage Foundation 2024 property-tax exemption

The Kodiak Island Borough Board of Equalization on July 17, 2025, voted to uphold the borough assessor’s decision and deny the Alutiiq Heritage Foundation’s appeal for a 100% property-tax exemption for tax year 2024 on the building at 215 Mission Road. The board voted 4–3 to uphold the assessor’s determination; the mayor cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of upholding the assessor.

The decision rejects the foundation’s request for a full exemption on a 15,169-square-foot building that was under renovation as of the assessment date, Jan. 1, 2024. The ruling preserves the assessor’s apportionment of areas the assessor found were not exclusively used for charitable purposes on the assessment date.

The board heard two hours of testimony and documentary evidence from the Alutiiq Heritage Foundation and the assessor’s office. The foundation argued it had taken exclusive occupancy in March 2023, that construction beginning in November 2023 did not defeat a preexisting charitable use, and that the museum’s gift shop and retail functions are integrated with and…