Alaskans across the state went to the polls Tuesday to select mayors, school board members and vote on a variety of taxation questions.
In the North Slope Borough, incumbent Mayor Charlotte Brower led former Mayor George Ahmaogak Sr. 935-816 in the race for mayor, with absentee and questioned ballots yet to be counted.
The unofficial results showed North Slope voters overwhelmingly approved 12 bond issues totaling about $160 million for capital projects ranging from schools and roads to public safety.
They also backed a proposal to create a port authority, aimed at getting financing for projects linked to the expansion of shipping traffic in the Arctic Ocean.
In Kenai, Mayor Mike Navarre won re-election with more than 53 percent of the vote in the borough election, while his brother Tim Navarre won re-election to the Kenai City Council.
There was a near-even split among voters on the advisory question of whether the Kenai borough should exercise animal control powers outside the cities. The vote was 2,831 to 2,772 in opposition.
An advisory vote to institute a tax to pay for expanded animal control failed by 3,599 to 1,993, however.
In Nome, a plan to raise taxes on alcohol from 5 percent to 8 percent trailed on a 270-242 vote. In Homer, Mayor Mary Wythe won re-election, while in the Haines Borough, former Mayor Jan Hill beat incumbent Stephanie Scott in the mayor's race, 475-355.
In Valdez, Larry Weaver topped Rick Long in the mayor's contest, 409-210. Voters approved a $20 million bond issue to expand and improve the harbor, 387-238.
In Fairbanks, former city Mayor Jerry Cleworth won election to the Fairbanks City Council, his eighth election win in city government during the last quarter-century. Former State Rep. John Davies won re-election to the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly.
North Pole voters amended the 1953 city charter so violations of the charter would be punishable only by fines of up to $1,500, not by imprisonment of up to 90 days.
In villages across the state, voters selected school board members in nearly four dozen contests in Rural Education Attendance Areas.
Southeast voters OK bonds
In Southeast, communities approved some new bonded debt but were more reluctant to approve taxes.
Voters in the City of Ketchikan approved measures to spend up to $10 million on water and sewer projects, but officials expect as much as 70 percent of that cost to be covered by state grants.
In Skagway, population 982, voters approved bonds for a new $12 million public safety building but rejected an accompanying 1 percent sales tax increase.
Petersburg voters faced a ballot packed with proposals to roll back sales tax exemptions for senior citizens but rejected nearly all. Measures approved eliminated the exemption for residents from outside the borough and required one year of residency before claiming the exemption.
Petersburg also approved a new tobacco tax.
In Juneau, two open assembly seats were filled by Maria Gladziszewski and Debbie White, each out-polling multiple contenders, while incumbent Jesse Kiehl was unopposed in the third race. School Board member Sean O'Brien was re-elected and will be joined by newly elected Brian Holst. Former principal Tom Milliron made a strong showing as a write-in, however.
Juneau voters also approved a measure by a vote of 3,243 to 2,237, endorsing the idea a new aquatics board could help keep the two swimming pools owned by the municipal government afloat.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough elected a new mayor, former Assembly member Dave Landis, while City and Borough of Sitka Mayor Mim McConnell was re-elected.
Dermot Cole and Pat Forgey contributed to this report.