NOTN- The City and Borough of Juneau certified its municipal election Today, finalizing the results and officially welcoming Nathaniel “Nano” Brooks to the Assembly.
Mayor Beth Weldon said Brooks has already begun onboarding following his narrow victory in the District 2 race.
“Mr. Brooks will be on the assembly, we’ve already done our onboarding with him,” Said Weldon “Part of my week will be looking at committees and liaisons and putting people where I think they should go for this year. That will be exciting.”
The city’s reorganization meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27, when Assembly members will finalize committee appointments.
Weldon said the city’s election team had been busy preparing the results for certification.
The official results of this month’s Election are as follows;
The Assembly and School Board races saw the following candidates elected:
- Areawide Assembly: Ella Adkison was elected to her first full three-year term.
- District 1 Assemblymember: Greg Smith was elected to his final three-year term as an Assemblymember.
- District 2 Assemblymember: Nathaniel “Nano” Brooks was elected to his first three-year term as an Assemblymember.
- School Board members: Steve Whitney and Melissa Cullum were elected to three-year terms, while Jenny Thomas was elected to a two-year term to fill an unexpired seat.
The results of the ballot proposition are summarized below. Exact language for each proposition is available in the sample ballot (PDF).
Proposition 1 – Mill Rate Cap Amendment
Proposition 1 was a citizen’s initiative petition to amend Section 9.7 of the CBJ Charter. It proposed capping the property tax rate at 9 mills, down from the previous rate cap 12 mills. Additional millage would be permissible to pay for general obligation debt. Any property tax rate above the new cap would require voter approval at a future election. The proposition passed with 5,163 YES votes and 5,006 NO votes.
Proposition 1 is scheduled to take effect on November 20, 2025, 30 days after enactment, however the impacts of the rate cap will not be reflected until the Fiscal Year 2027 municipal budget.
Proposition 2 – Sales Tax Exemptions
Proposition 2 was a citizen’s initiative petition to amend the City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) Code to create new sales tax exemptions for both essential food (as defined by the federal Food and Nutrition Act of 2008) and non-commercial essential utilities. The proposition passed with 7,099 YES votes and 3,100 NO votes.
Proposition 2 is scheduled to take effect on November 20, 2025, 30 days after enactment. The citizen’s initiative was modeled after the existing senior sales tax exemption and will require several steps by City, merchants and service providers, as well as members of the public to implement. The CBJ Finance Department will assist merchants with this change, however, seniors with sales tax exemption cards should continue to carry their cards until the transition is complete.
More information on this process will be provided over the next 30 days.
Proposition 3 – Seasonal Sales Tax
Proposition 3 proposed amending the CBJ Sales Tax Code to implement a new permanent seasonal sales tax structure. The measure proposed the introduction of a 2% sales tax from October 1 through March 31 and a 6.5% sales tax from April 1 through September 30 of each year, while repealing both the current permanent 1% and temporary 3% sales taxes. The existing temporary 1% sales tax would have remained unchanged. The proposition failed with4,365 YES votes and 5,853 NO votes.
A more detailed report with election statistics will be provided at the October 27 Assembly Reorganizational Meeting, to be held at 6 p.m. in person at Centennial Hall Ballroom #3 and remotely via Zoom webinar.
