The Anchorage Municipal Assembly convened on November 14, 2025, to discuss Ordinance 2025-117, a ballot proposition seeking voter approval for a two percent increase to the existing room rental (bed) tax. Council member Aaron Baldwin Day presented the proposal, which aims to generate approximately $6.5 to $7 million annually dedicated to public infrastructure for housing and cultural/recreational facilities. The discussion highlighted the proposal's timing, its relationship to other concurrent tax initiatives, and potential exemptions for extended-stay properties.
Thank you, everybody. Good afternoon. Welcome. Today's November 14th. It's Friday. On the record from one to 130, it's 103 p.m. We're here to discuss ill twenty twenty-five-117 s an ordinance submitting to the qualified voters, the municipality of Anchorage Ballot proposition. And to provide for approval by a majority, 58% plus one of qualified voters voting on the question. Start with introductions, Miss Baldwin Day. Aaron Baldwin Day. Jared Gerker, Scott Myers. Anna Brawling. Christopher Conson on the phone, Mr. Martinez. Present. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Anyone else here? Okay, thank you. So if we can go to the next slide. So there's no kind of policy choice that's different in the S version. So what this does, it asks voters to approve a two percent increase to our room rental tax or bed tax. Um room rental is what we use in the actual code for all room rentals less than 30 days. So hotel, B and B, uh short-term rental, uh, any any of those that fit in our existing bed tax. Um, this dedicates that revenue, approximately six point five to seven million dollars a year. There's a C, so you can look at the like how they map that out. Um this would be dedicated in the charter to two separate two different uses. Half of it or one percent would go to public infrastructure for housing, which I'll unpack shortly. Um, and then the other half would go to operations and or capital funding for cultural and recreational facilities. That's the general language. Um, I didn't do a screenshot, but you have the ordinance in front of you. Um this essentially layers on to the existing bed tax collection. So um so you'll see in the C there's no um substantive cost to implement it because it's literally changing some forms to collect that additional percent. So there is some initial work that would happen. Um, but it would be adding on to what we have. It does not make any changes to the existing bed tax, which is 12%. It does not change those revenue dedications. This literally is just on top of what we already have. Um, I know there's been a lot of discussion about those other pieces, so just to be clear, this isn't making changes to what's already there. Um this would be effective January 2nd, 2027. Uh the reason January 2nd is because if you uh stay overnight for New Year's Eve at a hotel, the question would be are you charged on December 31st or January 1st? And so that takes that question off the table. However, because of the um, you know, relatively small cost to implement this, it could in theory start in 2026. So I contemplated that um as a possibility, but ended up not doing that. It would start then. But um, just to say. It's worth asking, is it time for a change? So I went back on the 1975, there was a bed tax established. There might have been one prior to the Muni being created. I didn't do the deep dive.