1% seasonal sales tax passes; mill rate hike fails; Niven, Kelly top competitive Assembly races

Mark Sabbatini

2 hours ago

4 min read

With 95% of expected vote counted as of Friday night, all contests on Juneau’s municipal election ballot appear to be decided

Assembly District 2 candidate Joyce Niven, left, and Areawide Assembly Member Paul Kelly each have solid leads in their races with most of the vote in Juneau’s municipal election counted as of Friday, Oct. 9. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

This story has been corrected to note the mill rate cap hike is narrowly failing, not passing.

Juneau voters appear to have approved a 1% seasonal sales tax between April 1 and Sept. 30, and elected Joyce Niven to the Assembly in the only closely contested candidate race, according to updated results of the Oct. 6 municipal election released by the city clerk's office Friday night.

The tally of 9,717 ballots representing 34.99% of registered voters "are expected to represent approximately 95% of the total ballot count," according to the clerk’s office. Results are scheduled to be certified Oct. 20.

A ballot measure raising the property tax cap to 12 mills instead of nine is still narrowly failing, while the renewal of Juneau 3% temporary sales tax for another five years has passed by a dominant margin, according to the results.

In the Juneau Board of Education race, incumbents David Noon and Britteny Cioni-Haywood each appear to have secured a second three-year term, finishing well ahead of challenger Christine Johnson.

The 1% seasonal sales tax was placed on the ballot by a citizens’ petition in response to successful ballot measures last year that exempted food and utilities from sales tax, and reduced the mill rate cap to nine instead of 12. Voters last year also soundly rejected a more sweeping seasonal sales tax setting a total rate of 3% from October to March, and 7.5% from April to September.

The Assembly made a series of reductions to the current fiscal year budget as a result, including scaling back Juneau-Douglas City Museum operations and closing the Mount Jumbo Gym, but avoided some proposals such as closing city pools and other recreation facilities. The seasonal tax is projected to raise about $6.8 million annually, split between locals and visitors, with the ballot language stating an intent to "fund indoor and outdoor recreation." However, city leaders are not required to spend the tax revenue for that purpose.

Michael Cole, the lead petitioner of the sales tax initiative, said in an interview Wednesday he was encouraged by early results that showed the measure passing, although he was hoping the mill rate hike would pass as well.

"I guess it's one step at a time and we were really hoping for everything to go through," he said. "But at the same time we'll take our little wins and see what happens."

Pat Race, the lead petitioner on the mill cap initiative, stated in a text message to the Juneau Independent on Friday night that "I'm happy with the results, we've put more revenue on the table for the city services and facilities we were working to protect and there's a clear message from voters that indoor and outdoor recreation are a priority for Juneau residents."

The District 2 Assembly race was the most competitive on the ballot, with four challengers seeking to fill the seat occupied by departing incumbent Christine Woll. Niven had 32.79% of the vote as of Friday night, ahead of Malachi Thorington at 26.1%, Karla Hart at 23.82% and David Morris at 17.28%.

"I'm thankful for all the voters for voting for me and having confidence in me, and I can't wait to get to work," said Niven, a longtime financial and administrative manager for the Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority until she retired last year, in an interview after Friday’s results were released.

Niven said she was glad to see the seasonal sales tax and renewal of the 3% tax pass, but "I guess not surprised that the mill rate didn't pass." However, she said the city should have a "definitely workable" financial situation during the coming budget process with the measures that did pass.

Kelly was elected to a second three-year term with 61.79%, ahead of Brad Sapp at 32.47% and James McCants at 5.75%.

"I feel that it validates a lot of the work that I've done so far," Kelly said in an interview Friday night. "When you're on the Assembly you don't always get the chance to take an opinion poll."

In addition to Niven replacing Woll, the Assembly District 1 seat occupied by departing member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs will be filled by Mila Cosgrove, a former deputy city manager for several years, who ran unopposed. Kelly said he isn’t sure how that will affect the Assembly’s makeup.

"It definitely shifts the age demographic," Kelly said, since Cosgrove and Niven are older than the members they are replacing. But beyond that "I think Christine and Alicia both brought experience from being on the Assembly. I think Mila Cosgrove is going to bring experience from being the deputy city manager for quite a few years. And then I think Joyce, she's going to bring a lot of experience, I think, with dealing with housing issues from her employment with Tlingit and Haida. I think that'll be a good value to have."

The following are results as of 7:46 p.m. Friday: