"ballot question"

City election officials have until next Thursday to review the additional signatures and to certify or reject the petition.

The group will get 10 extra days to collect more signatures as city election officials continue work through the signature validation process.

City staff said the information would improve the accuracy of property assessments. The referendum supporters say it’s an invasion of privacy that could lead to higher taxes.

To pay for the tax break, the Assembly is considering a year-round sales tax increase, a seasonal sales tax increase or a property tax increase.

The Juneau Assembly on Monday asked city staff to draft an ordinance for a ballot question to exempt food from city sales tax while raising the summer sales tax rate to 6%.

If the initial paperwork is OK, the activists will have 30 days to collect nearly 3,000 signatures from local voters to get three cruise ship questions on the fall ballot.

After the sponsors get some official documents, they’ll have one year to collect more than 28,000 qualified signatures to put the question to voters in 2020.

Political machinations have left the Juneau Assembly down to just seven members. That’s empowered a three-member minority to block any actions between now and after the October election.

The Juneau Assembly voted to add three questions to the upcoming October ballot about sales taxes: Should marijuana be taxed an extra 3 percent, like alcohol? Should the long-standing 3 percent “temporary” sales tax be renewed another five years? And should that “temporary” sales tax become permanent?