A sign directs people with property tax questions to the third floor of City Hall on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 in Anchorage.
The property taxes do a lot of heavy lifting. The city lacks a sales tax, while support from the state of Alaska has fallen significantly over the decade. A driving force for this year’s residential property tax increases are rising home values. This year, the assessed value of single-family homes jumped by more than 9%.
The property tax pays for well over half of the municipality’s budget, and a good chunk of the Anchorage School District’s budget. The city generally uses different assessment methods for different types of properties, Gadamus said. Most of the work is done at a desk, using an appraisal software program, he said. But assessors periodically inspect properties in-person, usually from the outside, he said.by homeowners. The homeowners often seek a smaller value, leading to a smaller tax payment. The deadline for filing that appeal is around mid-February.Property taxes generally don’t rise as much as the assessments, municipal officials said.The 2022 tax year also saw a big increase in the assessments, Gadamus said.