Why ‘yes’ this fall?

The downtown Juneau cruise ship dock on Sept. 14, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Laura Steele 

Juneau is special. We’re a weird, wonderful little community carved out between mountains and water, with our own way of life, our own approach to doing things, our own ways of looking out for each other. I’ve had strangers offer to hold my baby at the pool while I adjust my older daughter’s goggles. I’ve seen countless parents help someone else’s kids with scraped knees, shared snacks, forgotten stuffed animals, zipping raincoats at every one of our playgrounds. Teenagers have voluntarily ridden the chairlift with my five-year-old, offering up hand warmers and cheering her on during her first Hooter runs. Someone is always losing an earring at Amalga cabin, and someone else is always returning it.  

We take care of each other. Our playgrounds and pools, our cabins and chairlifts, our schools and soccer fields – these places help us do it. In no world can we expect to invest nothing in these things and for them still to continue to thrive, or to even exist at all. 

So much of our little town’s magic can be found in the things we choose to invest in: with our time, with our energy, and yes, with our money. If Propositions A, B, and C on the October municipal ballot pass, that would likely look like the same 5% sales tax you’re used to; about $150 more in property tax in 2027 than 2026 for the median Juneau homeowner if the previous 10.24 mill rate were restored; and 1% more in tax on some purchases (food and utilities would still be exempt) from April to September.

As a young family, it’s discouraging at best to so often be the focus of discussion and yet so rarely have our voices truly heard. “How can we get young people to stay in Juneau? How do we retain workers and small businesses? How can we grow our population instead of seeing more and more outflow each year?” 

We’re telling you how. Invest in the things that matter to us. And yes, if you have more to give — more wealth, more property, more flexibility with your funds — that investment should be, proportionately, more. 

How to make Juneau — and, more broadly, Alaska as a whole — more affordable for families like mine is a conversation we need to have together. Alaska could close oil and gas tax loopholes. The state could adopt a progressive personal income tax, where individuals with high incomes are taxed at a higher rate than the middle class, a measure which would also capture revenue from the 24% nonresident workforce that makes their living off our resources. Such measures at the state level could help offset the financial burden on municipal governments like the CBJ. However, the primary financial policies we are empowered to adjust at the municipal level are in front of us now.  

Teaching my daughters to ski at Eaglecrest. Learning about teamwork and supporting one another on the fields and in the bleachers. Collecting fall leaves and making fairy houses along our trails. Finding a warm place to play at the field house, the libraries, and the pools in the winter. I was raised in Juneau, and I choose to make my home and raise my own family in Juneau, for all these reasons and more. And it’s for those reasons that I’m asking you to join me in voting yes on Propositions A, B, and C this October. 

• Laura Steele is a lifelong Juneau resident.