Sitkans may see not one, but two voter initiatives on the municipal election ballot this October. A local group has gathered signatures for a ballot initiative that would require future citizen initiatives to include economic impact studies.
Chris McGraw, manager of the Sitka Dock Company, is one of the sponsors.
“What it would require is that any citizens initiatives that are submitted to the City and Borough of Sitka would be required to be accompanied by an economic impact study report,” McGraw said in an interview with KCAW last week (8-6-25). “That would analyze how a proposed measure would affect Sitka’s economy, including municipal finances, employment, sales, tax, revenue, etc.”
McGraw is a founding member of Safeguard Sitka’s Future, which is backing the initiative. The group formed in opposition to a previous initiative to cap cruise tourism in Sitka, which ended up failing. Opponents of that initiative said the cruise limit would be costly to the community.
“One of the primary disputed facts [of that initiative] was what the effect on the local economy would be, and there was no hard data or studies to back up the ‘yes’ vote or the ‘no’ vote,” McGraw said. “And so we saw this as a way to kind of help that, and help inform voters, and give them the information they needed to make an informed decision.”
If approved by the voters, the economic impact study must be done by a professional with a master’s degree in economics, public policy, finance, or a related field, and must be conducted by an independent third-party. The sponsors would foot the bill for the study, and any ballot initiative application that doesn’t include a study would be rejected by the municipal clerk.
The group tried once earlier this summer to get an initiative on the ballot, but the first attempt was rejected by the city following a legal review from an Anchorage law firm. The first submission required a summary of the economic study to be included with the ballot initiative, while a full version would be available to Sitka voters through a public records request. The legal review found that by limiting access to only Sitka voters, the first draft of the initiative violated Alaska public records law. So McGraw’s group tried again.
“So really, since it’s a public document, it’d be available to anybody, not just Sitka voters. So that’s one thing we had to change. Just the fact that it was available to anyone, not just Sitka voters,” McGraw said.
View the petition and the city’s legal opinion on both drafts here
The sponsors need 368 signatures to get it on the ballot for the October 7 municipal election. At the time of KCAW’s interview, McGraw said they were “close” to collecting all necessary signatures and would likely submit them on Friday.
Municipal Clerk Sara Peterson plans to review the signatures this week. If more are needed, the group has a bit more time to collect them. Peterson told KCAW her deadline to get everything squared away for the ballot is August 22.
A second ballot initiative approved by the assembly asks Sitka voters whether to release restrictions on the Sitka Community Hospital’s dedicated fund so surplus money from the fund can be spent on a future multipurpose sports and recreation complex. Read KCAW’s previous reporting on the initiative here.
