Before the Assembly’s regularly-scheduled meeting Tuesday, members met to discuss legislative priorities for the coming year.
City manager Lisa Von Bargen had prepared a draft list of items for their consideration, a summary of considerations and needs to be shared with Wrangell’s legislative delegation and its lobbyist in Juneau.
“These are things that are most critical to the community, based on a number of issues we have dealt with around here,” she said at the start.
With the Alaska Legislature scheduled to convene for its 2018 regular session on January 16, high atop the city’s to-do list for them is adoption of a sustainable budget plan. The state has continued to run multibillion-dollar deficits each year since the 2013 fiscal year, which began in mid-2012. Five years later it has approximately $2.1 billion left yet in its available savings, but a projected spending deficit of $2.7 billion for the present year, which ends June 30, 2018.
At Assembly member Becky Rooney’s suggestion, Wrangell’s stance toward legislators took a harder tone, requesting they adopt a solution this next regular session rather than at their leisure.
Also making the list were preserving the state’s diminishing revenue sharing and matching-grant infrastructural programs. Over the past 10 years Alaska’s community assistance has contributed $5.95 million to Wrangell for service and infrastructure provision. Gradual reductions in recent years has brought these shared revenues to $409,000 for FY18, or seven percent of the borough’s budget.
At the recommendation of member Stephen Prysunka, ending unfunded mandates posed by a statewide exemption of seniors and residents with disabilities from municipal property taxes was added to the list. At around 18 percent of the tax base, Wrangell has among the highest proportion of exempted residents in the state, which has limited its revenue base as a result.
Prysunka felt the current policy has shifted from its original intent, helping those less able to meet the financial burden of property taxes. He recommended that the Legislature devolve those decisions to individual municipalities, allowing them to decide whether or not they can bear the exemption.
“As a blanket, we can’t afford it,” he said. “What we should be doing is deferring for young people,” he added, encouraging younger homeowners to establish themselves in their communities. “I would love to put that down here and say here, ‘enough.’”
Diminishing contract allocation for the city jail was also addressed, and the priorities list included opposition to reductions to the shared fisheries revenue, the addition of a statewide sales tax, and an increase on localities’ burden for pensions contributions past current levels.
Of school-related items, pursuance of developing a residential, accelerated high school in Wrangell for the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program had made the list, at the recommendation of the school superintendent. Of the 11 items originally included on the draft, Assembly members spent half of the hour they had allotted for the workshop to the ANSEP item.
What had stuck out to Assembly member Patty Gilbert had been the item’s phrasing, tying administration of the conceptualized school to the local public school district. In a public presentation put forward in the spring of 2016 a 400-bed residential school was suggested by the program, which aims at boosting mathematics and science skills among rural and primarily Native Alaskan youth. A non-residential high school was launched last academic year in the Matanuska-Susitna area, and demand there suggested a second, residential school that could cater to students all over the state would be warranted.
In a show of support, a steering committee was subsequently approved by the Assembly later that July, featuring one of its own members, the city manager, school superintendent, and other community members. Member David Powell has subsequently sat on the group, and since her hiring as the new manager this summer Von Bargen has likewise been included.
“There has not been a committee meeting since I got here,” she reported.
Von Bargen said she had suggested that a meeting be held following a bid to acquire Alaska Federation of Natives support for the proposal at its annual summit late in October. The organization’s membership had at that time elected to table the motion, and whether it will be taken up again is uncertain.
As for the project’s future, Gilbert was concerned about where the financial resources would come from if the school was built, and expressed her opposition to funding it locally.
“Why on earth are we incorporating ANSEP under Wrangell Public Schools?” she asked. “I think we’re foisting a tax burden on a public that has no idea what’s coming down the road.”
At last year’s presentation, it was suggested that the program would be supported through a combination of formulaic allocations from the state and a private endowment. It was also hoped that construction of the school would bring jobs to the local economy and spur development of the city’s former Institute property.
Responding on the phone to Gilbert’s concerns, Assembly member Julie Decker felt the wording was pretty general. “I think this is a very generalized statement and I think it’s appropriate for where we are at this stage in the concept.”
“The model for this has not been settled,” said Von Bargen. “I concur that there are many questions.”
Focusing on another aspect, Prysunka was troubled that the ANSEP item was the only one put forward for the local school system as a legislative priority. In particular, he pointed to continuation of Secure Rural Schools funding and visible maintenance needs at existing school facilities as things to be brought up instead.
“I worry that our priorities are a little bit skewed,” he said. Noting that it had been a great while since the Assembly had been given a progress report on the proposed school in some time, Prysunka added that he was at this point unclear what precisely the city would be supporting.
Assembly members present at the meeting seemed to be in agreement, and the ANSEP item was stricken from the legislative list. Members further recommended that Von Bargen take a more active role on the school steering committee, and hopefully come back with a progress report.
“I think you can play a good role and liaison for us,” Decker told her.
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