Assembly keeps school portion of economic-development abatements, directs assessor reporting amendment

The Assembly Finance Committee on Feb. 5 voted to preserve the local-school portion of economic-development property tax abatements and to add a transparency requirement for residential property owners seeking assessment detail.

Director Flick told the committee that state law (Senate Bill 179) removed a prior requirement that limited localitiesability to abate the portion of property tax attributable to education. The question presented to the committee was whether to keep Juneau City and Borough code language that requires abated properties to continue paying the 2.65 mills that fund local education or to allow a full abatement.

"The question for you to consider is do you want to continue to collect the amount of property tax attributable to education, or do you want to remove that from code and give full property tax abatement for those properties that qualify under economic development abatement," Director Flick said.

Mayor Weldon moved to retain the existing code language so abated properties continue to pay the 2.65 mills. The motion passed by unanimous consent after committee discussion about the revenue shift to the general fund if the education portion was abated. Director Flick noted one existing property that qualifies under the economic-development exemption and that the 2024 education-attributable portion for that parcel was just under $70,000.

Separately, Assemblymember Steininger moved an amendment to require that, upon request from a residential property owner, the assessor provide the parcel cost report (a document listing the factors used to calculate improvement value). Director Flick said the assessor's office already provides that information on request and the amendment codifies that practice for residential appeals. The committee approved the amendment by unanimous consent.

Why it matters: The committee's decision preserves a portion of property-tax revenue that would otherwise shift to the general fund if abatements were fully permitted. The codified assessor requirement aims to increase transparency for homeowners considering appeals.

What else the committee noted: Staff explained that collecting the 2.65 mills from abated properties shifts the tax burden to other revenue sources if the mills are not collected. Committee members asked about how changes would affect the school cap and were told the required local contribution is derived from the adopted budget and mill rate process. The Riverview senior project was cited as an example of a property covered by the existing code; that project's agreement remains unchanged by the committee action.

Next steps: The ordinance and the amendment will be carried forward in the managers proposed code language and presented at public hearing as part of the budget/code package.