The city council classifies and exempts from taxation:
(a) 
The property of organizations not organized for business or profit-making purposes and used exclusively for community purposes; provided, that income derived from rental of such property does not exceed the actual cost to the owner of the use by the renter.
(b) 
Boats and vessels.
(c) 
As used in this section, the phrase "boats and vessels" means property designed and constructed for the primary purpose of transporting goods or persons, or both, by water. Registration, licensing, or documentation shall not be conclusive proof that the property is a boat or a vessel, but may be considered along with the actual use made of the property and all other relevant factors.
(d) 
Business inventories.
(e) 
The first $25,000 of assessed valuation of personal property tax owned by each taxpayer. For a taxpayer with more than one personal property tax account, the $25,000 exemption will be distributed pro rata among all of the taxpayer accounts, based on the proportion of the assessed value in each account to the total assessed value of that taxpayer's personal property; provided, however, that this exemption shall not apply to personal property affixed to land or improvements to land, nor to motor vehicles subject to a registration tax under AS 28.10.431 and as such statute may be hereafter amended, revised, or replaced.
(Ord. 912 § 1, 1979; Ord. 925 § 1, 1979; Ord. 1019 § 1, 1984; Ord. 1071 § 1, 1986; Ord. 1683 § 1, 2012)
An interest, other than record ownership, in real property of an individual residing in the property is exempt from real property taxes if the property has been developed, improved, or acquired with federal funds for low income housing and is owned or managed as low income housing by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation under AS 18.55.100 through 18.55.960; a tribal corporation under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 pursuant to a cooperation agreement with the city; or a regional housing authority formed under AS 18.55.996. This section does not prohibit the city from receiving payments in lieu of taxes authorized under federal law.
(Ord. 1154 § 1, 1989; Ord. 1423 § 1, 2000)
Pursuant to AS 29.45.050(p) a private leasehold, contract, or other interest in such real property of the Ketchikan Shipyard as is owned by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) is exempt from real property tax for such period and subject to such terms and conditions as are agreed to in writing between AIDEA and the city. No tax exemption under this section becomes effective until the written agreement has been approved by the council. The real property of the Ketchikan Shipyard is that land and submerged land proposed for shipyard use and expansion in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough's "Revised Ketchikan Shipyard Development Plan" prepared by Northern Economics and dated March 1999, a copy of which will be kept in the office of the city clerk.
(Ord. 1527 § 1, 2005)