Members spent more than five hours voting on a list of what to cut and what to keep as the city faces a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall next fiscal year.
Assembly member Maureen Hall defends funding the Juneau -Douglas City Museum during an Assembly finance committee meeting on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The Juneau Assembly may have found a path out of the red for its budget at a late night finance committee meeting on Wednesday — but it wasn’t easy.as the city faces a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall next fiscal year.
“I’m totally confused, and it’s 10:30 p.m. at night,” she said. The Assembly voted not to close the Douglas Fire Station, which was on the chopping block Wednesday night, but they did unanimously vote to close and sell the Mount Jumbo Gym, located inside the former Douglas High School. It voted last week to also preserve Juneau’s pools, Dimond Park Field House and social service grants. The Assembly also decided not to close the Juneau-Douglas City Museum.
Instead, they voted 7-2 to reduce the museum’s annual funding by $261,000. Assembly members Maureen Hall and Paul Kelly were the dissenting votes. Deputy City Manager Robert Barr explained that the decision wouldn’t close the museum, but it would mean laying off two staff members and drastically reducing the museum’s hours.
“The number of hours would be, I would say, more variable than they are right now, because the staffing would be significantly reduced,” he said. “I would say our ability to be open regular hours would be very challenging at this level, but we would have the ability to be open sometimes. ” The roughly quarter-million-dollar cut would also eliminate the museum’s capacity to host public programs like First Fridays, exhibit openings and school class visits.
A person looks at pictures on display at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Assembly member Hall voted against any reduction to the museum, arguing there are other ways to balance the budget that wouldn’t be as drastic.
“It’s our history, and I don’t think we should be cutting off access to it as we ponder how to move forward,” she said. The Assembly also voted to reduce funding to Travel Juneau, the city’s landscaping budget, the Juneau Economic Development Council, the Jensen-Olson Arboretum and eliminate an administrative support position in the city’s administration department. The Assembly also advanced a plan that plays a significant role in getting the budget in the black.
It voted to pull $2.7 million from a 1% temporary sales tax voters approved in 2022 — meant for the city’s restricted budget reserve — and instead move it to the general fund. The restricted budget reserve is essentially the city’s “rainy day” fund meant for extreme emergencies or unexpected events.
The Assembly voted to maintain funding to the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, the Small Business Development Center, the city’s Affordable Housing Fund and the city’s staff travel and training budget. Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said supporting housing development is critical for Juneau’s future.
“We are in a super housing crisis. This is not the time that you press the brake. It is the time you hit the gas. It is not the time you reduce funds,” she said.
“I understand we are in the fiscal situation that we are in, but when you are looking for areas to make cuts, this is not where you look. ” The Assembly is also looking at ways to increase city revenue, like revising the city’s sales tax cap on some higher-priced items and services, and lowering the property tax hardship exemption income level.
If the Assembly votes to act on any of those ways to increase revenue, it may choose to reverse some cuts made on Wednesday before it finalizes the budget.
“What we are trying to do tonight is come to a holistic budget that we can pass to the full Assembly, so that the public can get one more opportunity to give us feedback on it,” she said. Sign up for The Signal
Local Government Dimond Park Field House Juneau-Douglas City Museum Juneau’S Pools Mayor Beth Weldon
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