Erin Baldwin Day, an Anchorage Assembly member from Midtown, and Vice Chair Anna Brawley of West Anchorage led a virtual workshop on the municipality’s budget, telling attendees that property taxes remain the city’s largest revenue source and that long-term declines in state support have shifted more of the burden to local taxpayers.

The presentation, billed as a public conversation about Anchorage’s fiscal future, outlined the basic structure of the municipal budget, how capital projects are financed, and why recent decades have left the city responsible for more infrastructure with fewer state dollars. "I'm Erin Baldwin Day, assembly person from Midtown," Erin Baldwin Day said while opening the meeting and acknowledging legislative services staff who supported the event.

Why it matters: Assembly members emphasized that Anchorage now carries a larger share of costs previously offset by state dollars, making decisions about priorities, bonds and tax policy increasingly consequential for residents. "We get about 569,000,000," Anna Brawley said when describing the scale of property-tax revenue, and she noted that nearly half of property taxes go to the Anchorage School District rather than municipal general government.

Among the key points the Assembly made:

Property taxes and revenue mix: Presenters described a roughly $650 million operating budget for 2025/2026 and said property taxes account for roughly 58% of that revenue, with about 21% from other local taxes and roughly 3% from state and federal sources. The Assembly repeatedly urged attendees to keep in mind that not all revenue is interchangeable; some funds are dedicated to specific uses.

Tax cap and predictability: The workshop explained the municipality’s voter-approved property tax cap, which Anna Brawley said was placed in the charter in 1983 and functions as a formula tied to inflation, new construction and population change, constraining year-to-year property tax growth.

Capital funding and bonds: Speakers described bonds as the primary mechanism for funding large capital projects — roads, drainage, parks and school bonds — and noted that voters often approve levies to finance those projects. Debt service appears as a line item in the operating budget and affects annual spending choices.

State funding decline and deferred maintenance: Erin Baldwin Day contrasted funding patterns in the 1980s with today, saying the city received a much larger share of state operating support previously and that this has fallen dramatically. She cited a recent state capital contribution of roughly $200,000,000 for Port of Alaska modernization but said state operational support for municipal services remains minimal. Presenters referenced about $1,000,000,000 in deferred infrastructure maintenance.

Homelessness spending: Anna Brawley said much recent homelessness spending came from federal COVID-era grants and HUD funding, along with FEMA reimbursements for some local costs, meaning much of the recent spending was one-time. Local funds — including some property tax money and dedicated alcohol and marijuana tax revenues — also support shelter operations.

Public engagement and next steps: No formal votes or motions were taken at the workshop. Presenters encouraged residents to engage in follow-up conversations, submit questions via chat or email, and participate in separate processes (for example, the school board process for school budgets or contacting state legislators in Juneau).

The Assembly said it will compile chat questions, provide answers and distribute follow-up materials to participants. The workshop closed without formal actions; the Assembly called for continued public input on budget priorities and promised additional outreach.