How Taxes are Calculated
In the Fairbanks North Star Borough, taxes are set by four different tax areas: the borough itself, the city of Fairbanks, the city of North Pole, and service areas. All properties will be taxed by the borough, but whether the other three apply depends on the property's location.
Service Areas
Some properties are within a fire and/or road service area. For more information on road service areas, see the Rural Services page on our website. For information on fire service areas, see this page.
Exemptions
When calculating taxes, tax areas are processed individually. Each area can choose what exemptions to allow, and apply special rules. For example, the Borough Residential Exemption normally exempts up to $50,000. But service areas limit that exemption to $10,000.
For technical reasons relating to the software that calculates the taxes, not all exemptions are shown here. In these cases, the exemption has already been applied, and the Full and True Value reflects the lowered amount.
Tax Authorities
Within a tax area, taxes are categorized by what they fund. We call these categories "Tax Authorities", and each one has a millage rate.
Millage Rate
The millage rate (or mill rate) is a standard way of expressing property taxes. 1 mill is equal to $1 in taxes per $1,000 in taxable assessed value. To convert to a percentage, divide the mill rate by 1,000. For example, a mill rate of 0.584 is 0.000584 percent.
Learn More
Contact the Treasury and Budget Division if you need more information. You can also view the full tax code online.