The Juneau Assembly is considering creating a new borough-wide tax to help fund a long-term solution to glacial outburst flooding.
Local leaders said a solution sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would require the city to cough up a portion of the funding — as much as 25%. That’s expected to pencil out to tens of millions of dollars.
Three Assembly members formed a focus group at a committee meeting late last month to home in on a funding source. Assembly member Maureen Hall announced the top result from their discussion at a committee of the whole meeting on Monday night.
“There was consensus that any local match should be borne by the entire borough and not a service area of protected homes,” Hall said.
There are a few reasons. First, she said the Mendenhall Valley hosts a lot of public infrastructure, including the Juneau International Airport, a library, a pool, schools and a wastewater treatment plant.
Second, Hall said Juneau can’t afford to lose a chunk of housing while the city faces a housing shortage. According to a city memo, the temporary flood wall protected 1,371 homes during the glacial outburst flood this summer. That’s nearly 10% of Juneau’s total housing units, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2024.
Third, Assembly member Neil Steininger said the alternative would be to ask flood-affected residents to pay the sum themselves. That’s risky, he said, because they likely can’t afford it.
“I think there is a message that we can tell for why that person out North Douglas or on Gastineau Avenue, you know, sees a benefit to not letting half of our town wash away,” Steininger said.
The Assembly didn’t take public comment at the meeting. Although the focus group is leaning toward a borough-wide tax, the Assembly as a whole has not come to a decision yet.
City leaders said they expect the Army Corps to share a cost estimate for the long-term flood solution next spring or summer, and the soonest the city could put a flood tax question to voters is during the municipal election next fall.
