Municipality of Anchorage — FY 2026
Understanding the MOA Budget
A plain-English breakdown of the municipal budget for Anchorage residents. Data sourced from the official 974-page budget document approved 2025-11-18.
ⓘ Independent civic project. Not affiliated with the Municipality of Anchorage.
Budget Overview
The big picture for Anchorage's 290,761 residents — how the city plans to spend $666.1M in FY2026.
$666.1M
Total Budget
+1.3% vs prior year
$2,289
Cost Per Resident
290,761 population
2,376
City Employees
-5 from prior year
$200K
Under Tax Cap
Essentially at ceiling
How This Budget Was Built
1 Start with 2025 Revised Budget of $657,312,487
↓2 Remove $9.1M in one-time 2025 spending (special projects, FEMA recoveries, unique transfers)
↓3 Adjust debt service: -$7.2M GO bond reduction offset by +$3.3M TANs = net -$3.9M
↓4 Project forward salaries and benefits at current pay rates with CBA increases (+$14.6M)
↓5 Adjust non-labor costs (+$0.6M fleet recovery, +$0.2M Mountain View Community Center, etc.)
↓6 2026 Continuation result = $659,667,000 (+0.4% from 2025)
↓7 Mayor adds proposed changes (+$0.5M bond O&M, +$45K Library staffing, service area board requests)
↓8 Assembly amends: net -$38,800 across 7 amendment areas
↓9 2026 Approved = $666,127,074
Mayor's Strategic Goals
Good Government — Ensuring ethical and accountable government, balancing the budget, and delivering quality, effective government services.
Safe Anchorage — Creating a safer, healthier Anchorage for all by addressing homelessness, investing in crisis response services and public health, cleaning up parks and public spaces, and staffing up public safety departments.
Building Our Future — Laying the foundation for a more prosperous future through housing solutions, economic development, and investments in childcare, public infrastructure, and quality of life.
Fiscal Context
The financial pressures and tailwinds shaping this budget.
Key context: The 2026 budget is operating under real fiscal pressure. The city is nearly at its legal tax cap, one-time revenues from recent years are gone, personnel costs keep rising, and a key retirement funding mechanism is becoming insufficient. The Mayor explicitly stated in her budget letter that 'difficult financial questions are ahead.'
Pressures (6)
Rising personnel costs $14.6M
Salaries and benefits grew $14.6M in 2026, driven by CBA wage increases (0-8% depending on union), step progressions as employees advance their pay scale, and $4.1M in health benefit premium growth. Personnel is 55.9% of the total budget and has grown every year.
One-time revenues expiring -$13.1M
2025 had $13.1M in non-recurring revenues that do not repeat in 2026: ARPA (federal pandemic relief) grant and related interest, dividends from Anchorage Hydropower and Water utilities, and a transfer from the ML&P sale fund to cover a PERS liability. These sources are permanently gone.
Police and Fire retirement COPs no longer sufficient -$2.0M
In 2017, the city issued Certificates of Participation (COPs) to pre-fund the Police and Fire Retirement Trust. Starting in 2026, the COP payments will no longer cover the full annual retirement cost, adding approximately $2M in structural pressure annually until the COPs are paid off in 2032.
State Municipal Assistance declining -$3.0M
State Municipal Assistance revenues decreased $3.0M in 2026 as part of a long-term trend of Alaska reducing aid to municipalities.
Tobacco tax long-term structural decline
As smoking rates fall nationwide, tobacco tax revenue declines over time. The city's tobacco tax is CPI-indexed (adjusting annually), which partially offsets declining volume, but the long-term trajectory is downward.
Operating essentially at the tax cap ceiling $200K
The city came in only $0.2M under its legal Tax Limit — essentially zero margin. Any cost increase must be offset by cuts elsewhere or new non-cap revenue, with almost no buffer. The cap grew only 3.7% in 2026 (0% population growth + 3.7% CPI).
Positives (4)
Debt service decreased $3.9M
GO bond debt service is declining per amortization schedule as prior bonds are paid off. Net -$3.9M in 2026.
SEMT revenue increased $2.5M
Supplemental Emergency Medical Transportation (federal Medicaid for ambulance) rose $2.5M due to improved program participation.
Investment earnings rising $1.8M
Investment earnings projected to increase $1.8M as interest rates remain elevated.
TANs budget-neutral
Tax Anticipation Notes cost of $1.9M is directly offset by $1.9M in TAN interest revenue — zero net impact.
No sales tax: Anchorage has no general retail sales tax. Voters have historically rejected proposals. This makes Anchorage unusually dependent on property taxes at 62% of revenue, compared to similarly-sized U.S. cities that typically supplement with a sales tax.
Revenue
Where Anchorage's $628.6M comes from. Property taxes make up over 62% — more than most U.S. cities because Anchorage has no sales tax.
Property Taxes 62.3% All Other 37.7%
Spending
How the city's $666.1M budget is spent across 7 major categories.
Salaries &
Benefits 55.9% Non-Personnel 44.1%
Salaries and Benefits
55.9% · $372.4M
Personnel costs are the largest single budget driver at 55.9% of all spending. This covers wages, step increases, health insurance ($2,416-$2,900 per month per employee depending on union), retirement contributions (22-28% of salary), social security, and a vacancy factor offset for unfilled positions. Grew $14.6M in 2026.
Other Services
30.63% · $204.0M
This broad category covers everything that is not people or debt: vendor contracts, utility bills, professional services, facility costs for city venues like the convention center and museum, Police and Fire Retirement transfers, the Community Service Patrol contract, and road maintenance contracts under M&O. Most Limited Road Service Area costs are here too.
Debt Service
9.51% · $63.3M
The city must pay $63.3M in 2026 to repay bonds issued in prior years to fund major capital projects — roads, fire stations, public safety equipment, IT systems, and more. These payments are legally non-negotiable; failing to make them would constitute a default and potentially trigger a bond rating downgrade. The amount decreased $3.9M from 2025 because older bonds are being paid off per schedule.
Supplies
2.4% · $16.0M
Covers all consumable goods: from office supplies to EMS medical equipment to traffic signal hardware. Fire ($3.5M) and Police ($3.2M) hold the largest supply budgets due to operational equipment needs. Traffic Engineering has an unusually high supplies budget ($1.05M) because signal hardware and components are expensive.
Depreciation (non-cash)
1.4% · $9.3M
This $9.3M is a pure accounting entry representing the declining value of IT infrastructure, primarily the SAP enterprise system. It appears in the budget total for accounting integrity but creates no new spending authority. The true appropriated budget is $656.8M, not $666.1M — the difference is this depreciation.
Capital Outlay
0.13% · $867K
Small capital purchases funded within operating budgets rather than through the Capital Improvement Budget. Parks and Recreation ($201K) and Fire ($368K) have the largest amounts — typically durable equipment with multi-year useful lives but insufficient cost to justify bond financing.
Travel
0.04% · $283K
The city's total travel budget is a modest $283K — just 0.04% of the total budget. This covers out-of-area training, professional conferences, and official travel for city representatives. Many departments have zero travel budgets.
About depreciation: Non-cash IT asset depreciation. Appears in budget total for accounting accuracy but is not appropriated — no new spending authority is created. The true spendable budget is $656.8M. This means the actual spendable (Appropriation) amount is $656.8M, not the full $666.1M.
Departments
27 city departments grouped by function. Click any department for details.
Workforce
2,376 city employees across 16 labor groups.
2,109
Full-Time
53
Part-Time
187
Seasonal
27
Temporary
2026 Wage Increases by Labor Group
AMEA (Anchorage Municipal Employees Association) 0%
APDEA Police Sworn 4.3%
APDEA Police Non-Sworn 4.3%
Executives 0%
IAFF Fire F40 (standard schedule) 8%
IAFF Fire F56 (shift schedule) 8%
IAFF Fire Dispatch 8%
IBEW Electrical 3%
IBEW Technicians 3%
Local 71 Laborers 3%
Mayor 0%
Non-Represented 0%
Operating Engineers 302 1.7%
Plumbers 3.3%
Teamsters 3.3%
Assembly Members 0%
Benefits breakdown: PERS pension is 22% of salary for most employees; 28% for APDEA Police sworn and non-sworn. Paid into the State of Alaska Public Employees Retirement System.. Social Security: 6.2% of wages up to the 2026 base wage assumption maximum of $183,600. Some sworn police and fire employees are exempt.. Medicare: 1.45% of all wages with no cap..
Debt Service
$63.3M in annual debt payments — money committed to repaying past borrowing.
General Obligation (GO) Bonds
$50.7M
Municipal bonds backed by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of Anchorage. Require both Assembly authorization and a majority voter approval — voters must say yes at a general election. The city typically issues 20-year bonds. GO bond debt service is included in the Tax Cap calculation.
Revenue Bonds
$297K
Bonds backed solely by revenues from a specific project — not by property taxes. If the revenue stream fails, bondholders cannot demand property tax payments. Example: Alaska Center for the Performing Arts (ACPA) — ticket surcharges pay the debt service on bonds issued for the 2004 roof replacement.
Tax Anticipation Notes (TANs)
$1.9M
Short-term notes the city issues when it needs operating cash before property taxes are collected during the year. Must be fully repaid before December 31. Budget-neutral: the $1.9M in TANs interest cost is directly offset by $1.9M in TAN interest revenue earned. TANs were not issued in 2025, which is why they appear as an increase in 2026.
Police & Fire Retirement COPs: Starting in 2026, the annual COP debt service payments will no longer cover the full anticipated annual costs of the retirement system. This gap creates approximately $2M per year in added structural pressure on the Police and Fire budgets — an ongoing problem until the COPs mature in 2032.
Background: The Police and Fire Retirement System is a legacy defined-benefit pension for sworn officers and firefighters hired before May 25, 1994. No new employees are eligible. Operates under AMC 3.85.
COP financing: In 2017, via AO 2017-133, the city issued Certificates of Participation (COPs) to pay the full outstanding liability in a lump sum into the Trust Fund. Police and Fire departments now make annual transfers to the COP Debt Service Fund (330000) instead of direct Trust contributions. Final COP payment is in 2032.
Budget Process
How Anchorage's budget goes from proposal to law — and how you can participate.
1
120-Day Budget Memo
At least 120 days before year-end — approximately August 29
The Mayor submits a preliminary revenue outlook and budget priorities to the Assembly. This sets the financial context: how much room exists under the tax cap, what major cost drivers are projected, and what policy priorities will shape the budget. It is an early-warning document, not yet a spending plan.
2
Capital Improvement Program Public Input
Spring before the budget year
OMB surveys community councils for input on capital projects. Departments submit project lists scored against criteria including safety impact, economic benefit, public support, mandate status, and technical feasibility. This is the primary opportunity for neighborhoods to influence multi-year infrastructure spending.
🗣 Public participation3
Mayor Proposes Budget
At least 90 days before year-end — approximately October 2
The Mayor submits the complete proposed budget to the Assembly. All departments have submitted requests; the Mayor has made allocation decisions between competing priorities. The 2026 proposal was $666.2M. This document — the one this JSON is built from — runs 974 pages.
4
Assembly Worksessions
October through November
The Assembly holds public worksessions reviewing each budget section in detail. These are open to the public and are typically broadcast and archived online. Assembly members can ask department heads to testify and explain their budgets.
🗣 Public participation5
Budget Advisory Commission Review
October through November
The citizen Budget Advisory Commission independently reviews the proposed budget and delivers formal written recommendations to the Assembly. This is a key mechanism for public technical scrutiny — the BAC digs into the numbers and reports findings that elected officials take seriously.
🗣 Public participation6
Legally Required Public Hearings
At least two hearings per Charter Section 13.04
The Charter requires at least one hearing at least 21 days after budget submission, and at least one hearing 7-14 days before adoption. Residents may testify in person or in writing. These are mandatory — the budget cannot be legally adopted without them.
🗣 Public participation7
Assembly Amends and Approves
At least 21 days before year-end — typically mid-November
The Assembly may increase, decrease, add, or delete any line item. The Mayor can veto specific budget line items; the Assembly needs 8 of its 12 votes to override. The approved budget is enacted by ordinance. If the Assembly fails to act by 21 days before year-end, the Mayor's proposal becomes the budget automatically.
🗣 Public participation8
Revised Budget — Spring
Spring of the budget year, typically April
The approved budget is updated with actual tax assessments, finalized prior-year fund balance data, and any needed spending adjustments. This is when the Assembly formally sets final mill rates (property tax rates) by ordinance. The Revised Budget goes through the same Mayor-propose and Assembly-approve process as the original.
🗣 Public participation9
Year-Round Financial Monitoring
Monthly throughout the year
The Chief Fiscal Officer submits monthly financial reports to the Assembly. Any expense variance of 5% or more by department, or revenue variance of 1% or more in aggregate, must be reported with specificity. Departments cannot spend money outside appropriated budgets — this is illegal under AMC 6.30.050.
🗣 Public participationHow to Get Involved
Testify
Testify at any Assembly public hearing — scheduled in October and November each year. No appointment needed; speakers are called in order of sign-up at the meeting.
Budget Advisory Commission
Apply to serve on the Budget Advisory Commission — a citizen technical panel that reviews the proposed budget each fall. Applications open every October at onboard.muni.org.
Community Councils
Attend your neighborhood community council. They provide formal input on the Capital Improvement Program each spring and can engage the Assembly on operating budget issues.
Watch Online
Assembly meetings and worksessions are broadcast live and archived at muni.org/Assembly. Budget worksessions typically run October through November.
Written Comment
Submit written testimony to the Municipal Clerk at municipalclerk@anchorageak.gov or by mail to: Municipal Clerk, PO Box 196650, Anchorage, AK 99519-6650.
Full Document
The complete 974-page budget document is at https://www.muni.org/Departments/budget/Pages/default.aspx
Performance Data
Department performance measures are tracked at www.muni.org under the Performance Value Results (PVR) framework.
Budget Terms Explained
20 key terms to help you understand municipal finance.