Can Juneau handle the truth?

Juneau’s City Hall on Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Tom Williams

The truth is the Juneau Assembly and CBJ management are out of control. As a result, a large number of Juneau residents simply no longer trust our Assembly or borough management to make sound decisions. 

Why is that the case and how did we get here? And how does the Assembly and the manager reestablish that trust?

Our Assembly should be working for the voters and the community, but over the past several years the Assembly has made several incredibly irresponsible policy and financial decisions.  Here are but a few; there are many more. 

On the spending side, the Assembly decided to spend upwards of $20 million of the taxpayers’ money on five-star accommodations for a City Hall when the voters not once, but twice, told the Assembly “no.”

They continue to plan for a new Capital Civic Center supported by a special interest group, even though the voters also said “no” to funding it. They proposed spending $9 million and appropriated $5 million of taxpayers’ funds to evict tenants and prepare Telephone Hill for development with no practical or workable plan for development, all in the name of “affordable housing.”  

In the name of “affordable housing” the Assembly spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to develop a subdivision on Pederson Hill which with cost overruns produced no “affordable housing.”  And now their Parks and Recreation Department is developing a plan to spend up to $20 million on an upgraded skate park with pickleball courts.  

On the policy side, after trying to unsuccessfully acquire downtown harbor land for the CBJ, the CBJ’s foot-dragging on private development has delayed the Áak’w Landing development downtown by Huna Totem, one of our local Native corporations. That attitude continues with Goldbelt’s planned investment of hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the west side of Douglas.  Instead of helping pave the way for private investment, the CBJ once again appears to be slow-walking Goldbelt’s permitting process. 

In the name of “affordable housing” the Assembly held numerous meetings and created a task force to try to reduce the number of short-term rentals (STR’s) operated by locals even though the housing assessment commissioned by the CBJ concluded that the impact of STRs on the housing market was negligible. These are just some examples of the Assembly’s attitude that leads to a lack of trust.

The Assembly has been able to make those poor spending decisions because the CBJ has for several years overtaxed us, building up substantial excess reserves that they can and have accessed any way they want to.

But perhaps the straw that has finally broken many residents’ trust is when the Assembly cried doom and gloom, threatening to close or reduce funding for our recreational facilities like the pool, ice rink and field house. They did that because the voters eliminated the sales tax on food and essential utilities and capped the property tax mill rate at essentially the current level.  

The decrease in sales tax revenue compared to the overall CBJ budget should not have been a huge problem for competent staff or a responsible Assembly. I would hope that the CBJ manager, who the Assembly thinks is worth nearly a quarter-of-a-million dollars a year in salary, could have risen to the challenge.  

Unfortunately, the amount of fear and not-so-subtle threats the manager and the Assembly promoted helped generate an initiative for a permanent 1% seasonal sales tax, with similarities to the Assembly-proposed idea that the voters soundly rejected last year. The Assembly also got their wish in another initiative to reopen the property tax door to over-taxation.

What is the solution?  Until the Assembly begins to demonstrate a little fiscal restraint and responsible decision-making, we should not be voting to increase our taxes.   

I encourage my fellow voters to soundly reject ballot measures B and C. If they pass, I have no doubt the Assembly will not only increase our property taxes (making housing less affordable), but they will also have a windfall of $6.8 million in new sales taxes that they are not required to be used for our recreation facilities.

Voters can replace Assembly members who participated in poor decisions by electing thoughtful and mature decision-makers who will make sound budget decisions and promote private development and a growing economy. To that end I strongly urge my fellow voters to elect Brad Sapp, replacing the Areawide incumbent, and David Morris for the District 2 seat. Both of these candidates will bring some maturity to the Assembly and help restore our trust in the Assembly.  

• Tom Williams is a 49-year resident of Juneau, and has served on the city’s harbor and airport boards.