CBJ Budget
Welcome to the CBJ Budget
The City and Borough of Juneau is responsible for providing police and fire protection, funding education for youth, building and repairing roads, maintaining parks, libraries and recreational centers, as well as a host of other things. The budget serves as a major policy document that describes how CBJ intends to finance these services and infrastructure. Each April, the City Manager presents a proposed annual operating and capital budget. The Juneau Assembly then follows a multi-week process to ensure the budget meets the needs of our diverse community.
Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Details
Budget Process
City Manager Katie Koester presented the budget for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 on April 1 during a Regular Juneau Assembly meeting. The manager’s proposed budget includes the CBJ operating budget, the Juneau School District operating budget, the capital improvement plan, and the property tax mill levy rate. Fiscal year 2025 begins July 1, 2024 and ends June 30, 2025.
The CBJ operating budget includes general government and enterprise organizations. General government includes departments like the Juneau Police Department, Capital City Fire/Rescue, Parks & Recreation, and the Libraries. Enterprise organizations are Bartlett Regional Hospital, Juneau International Airport, Docks & Harbors and Water & Sewer.
View the Assembly Finance Committee meeting schedule:
From April to May, the Juneau Assembly Finance Committee reviewed the City Manager’s proposed fiscal year 25 and 26 budget through a series of public meetings to identify specific concerns through conversations with residents, advocates, and city agencies.
Following the budget introduction on April 1, Assembly Finance Committee meetings were held on April 6, April 17, April 29, May 1, May 8, and May 15.
The public had an opportunity to comment on the CBJ operating budget, the Juneau School District operating budget, the capital improvement plan, and the property tax mill levy rate at a public hearing during a Regular Juneau Assembly meeting on April 29 and a Special Juneau Assembly meeting on June 3.
The Juneau School District’s FY25 budget was introduced during a Regular Juneau Assembly meeting on April 1. The Juneau School District presented their budget request to the Assembly Finance Committee on April 6. The public had an opportunity to comment on the School District’s budget during a Regular Assembly meeting on April 29 and May 13. The Juneau Assembly adopted the final FY25 School District budget during a Regular Assembly meeting on May 13.
The Juneau Assembly adopted the FY25 CBJ operating budget, property tax mill levy rate, and the Capital Improvement Plan during a Special Assembly Meeting on June 3, 2024.
Budget Resources
Helpful Resources
CBJ Taxes
The City and Borough of Juneau has a 5% sales tax. For decades, one percent of that has been a temporary tax – approved by voters every five years – which provides funding for expenses such as capital projects and nonprofit community projects. The Assembly determines what projects the tax revenue is intended for. The current 1% sales tax is set to expire September 30, 2028 unless voters decide to renew it during the October 2027 election (Sales Tax Code: 69.05.020).
Learn more about the current one percent sales tax here.
The City and Borough of Juneau’s authorization to levy a property tax is provided under Alaska State Statute Section 29.45. Under this section, the State requires the Assessor to assess property at full and true value as of January 1 each year. The full and true value is the estimated price that the property would bring in an open market in a sale between a willing seller and a willing buyer (AS 29.45.110)). The areawide projected “taxable” assessed value (full and true less exempted properties) for the 2025 fiscal year (2024 calendar year) is $6.5 billion, up 0.6% from fiscal year 2024.
The rate of levy is to be fixed by Assembly resolution, determined annually before June 15, per AS 29.45.240. The State of Alaska requires a number of property exemptions that municipalities must exempt when taxing property
(AS 29.45.030).
The taxable assessed value is net of a projected $614 million of property exemptions. The Senior Citizen and Disabled Veteran exemptions are about 71% of the total.
The Juneau Taxpayer Receipt provides residents an estimate of how CBJ spends property and sales taxes, with a breakdown of programs and services supported by residents’ tax dollars. This tool will produce a tax receipt that includes CBJ’s 5% sales tax for all residents and CBJ’s property tax rate of 10.16 mills for home owners. The receipt does not include additional taxes levied on the sale of tobacco, liquor, or marijuana, and it does not account for property taxes that are paid via rental costs. Taxpayer Receipt breaks that total tax burden down into proportional amounts for all of CBJ’s individual programs and services – police, fire, parks, recreation, libraries, etc. – that are supported by those taxes based on CBJ’s fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025) proposed budget.
Juneau residents can access Taxpayer Receipt here or by selecting the “Your Taxpayer Receipt” button above.
Quick Links
The Assembly Finance Committee meets monthly, and the public are welcome to join. Find the AFC’s up-to-date calendar, adopted legislation, and an archive of agendas and minutes here.
A $15,000,000 bond package was on the CBJ’s October 6, 2020 voter ballot for the public’s consideration. In this video, CBJ’s former Finance Director, Jeff Rogers, discusses the complexities of the debt service mill rate in relation to the bond package, which was passed by public vote.
2025 Adopted Budget
2024 Adopted Budget
2023 Adopted Budget
2022 Adopted Budget
2021 Adopted Budget
2020 Adopted Budget
2019 Adopted Budget
2018 Adopted Budget
2017 Adopted Budget
2016 Adopted Budget
2015 Adopted Budget
2014 Adopted Budget
2013 Adopted Budget
2012 Adopted Budget
2011 Adopted Budget
2010 Adopted Budget
2009 Adopted Budget
2008 Adopted Budget
2007 Adopted Budget
2008 Adopted Budget
2006 Adopted Budget
2005 Adopted Budget
2004 Adopted Budget
2003 Adopted Budget
In preparation for the biennial FY21/FY22 budget, the CBJ went through a Priority-Driven Budgeting process. You can learn about that process and its results here.
In addition to attending AFC meetings, which are open to the public, you can ask questions and give comments directly to the CBJ Manager’s Office and your Assembly members here.
Budget News
Assembly begins budget review process at April 6 Finance Committee meeting
April 1, 2024
The Juneau Assembly will begin its multi-week process to review the City and Borough of Juneau’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025 at the Assembly Finance Committee meeting on Saturday, April 6 at 8:30 am. Join the committee meeting in person at City Hall, online at https://juneau.zoom.us/j/93917915176, or call 1-253-215-8782 with webinar ID: 939 1791 5176.
The City Manager will introduce the proposed budget during the Regular Assembly meeting on April 1. The manager’s proposed citywide budget, including the school district, hospital, and all city enterprises, totals $459 million, which is down $20.5 million from the FY24 Amended Budget. The Manager worked diligently to keep the operating budget flat while addressing both program needs and inflationary pressures. The budget proposes a property tax increase of 0.16 mills, resulting in a total mill levy rate of 10.32 mills. The mill rate increase funds facilities maintenance costs for three buildings the school district will relinquish back to CBJ on July 1 due to school consolidation and closures. Prior to FY24, CBJ’s property tax rate was 10.5, or higher, for fourteen years straight.
The budget reflects increased projections of sales tax revenues to account for higher remote sales tax and the continued impact of inflation on tax revenues. The budget also includes higher property tax revenues as a result of the proposed 0.16 mill rate increase. Borough-wide property valuations remained relatively flat with a 0.6% increase in FY25 over FY24. This rate of increase indicates that the exceptionally hot residential home sale market in recent years is cooling. These revenue increases are offset by inflationary cost growth in both the operating and capital budgets, as well as $3.7 million of shifting costs for education funding from the State to the City. These cost shifts do not result in increased funding to the School District.
As proposed, the recurring FY25 budget is balanced after consideration of a $1 million lapse, and is forecast to have no impact on general fund balance. However, the proposed budget also includes $11.5 million of proposed one-time spending, including $6 million for public safety communication infrastructure, $3 million for a rewrite of CBJ’s Title 49 Land Use Code, and $1.65 million for school district facilities maintenance of buildings currently in use for educational purposes. (The $1.65 million for the school district was already approved via ordinance.) These one-time costs are partially offset by $2.6 million of expected one-time revenue. These general fund one-time expenditures and revenue net to $8.9 million in expenditures in the FY25 proposed budget, which will be funded by CBJ’s unrestricted general fund balance.
The budget includes the following major components:
- $85.4 million for the Juneau School District, a decrease of $10.9 million (11.3 percent) over the FY24 Amended Budget. This decrease reflects action taken by the Board of Education to make cuts in order to balance the FY25 budget after discovering a structural deficit of $9.5 million in FY24. Cost reductions include facility closures and school consolidation, as well as cuts to personnel and commodities and services.
- $195.8 million for Enterprise Funds (hospital, airport, water utilities, docks, and harbors), an increase of $4.8 million (2.5 percent). This change is primarily due to higher costs at the hospital for insurances and materials and commodities.
- $106.2 million for general government, a decrease of $1.2 million (1.1 percent) from the FY24 Amended Budget. This decrease primarily reflects large competitive affordable housing grants and loans issued in FY24, offset by operational cost growth for negotiated wage increases and inflationary impacts on commodities and services.
- $51.0 million for capital improvement projects, a decrease of $7.6 million (13.0 percent) from the FY24 Amended Budget. This decrease is due to a large one-time appropriation in the FY24 budget for city hall.
- $10.4 million for the debt service budget, a decrease of $1.1 million (9.6 percent) over the FY24 Amended Budget. This reflects a reduction in outstanding school construction debt, as multiple bonds were fully paid off during FY24.
Read CBJ’s proposed Biennial Budget for fiscal year 2025. The City Manager’s Budget Message is on pages 19-22.
For more information, contact Finance Director Angie Flick at (907) 586-5215 or [email protected].