Following an estimated 14 hours of discussion over three separate workshops, members of the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly approved a budget for the 2019 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Getting there has not been an easy process, mulling over among other things a restructuring of how public facilities maintenance and the Public Works Department are arranged, proposed by the city manager as a cost saving measure. Under this proposal, Lisa Von Bargen envisioned a separate division within public works tasked with public maintenance and equipment upkeep. The department head would then be able to focus more directly on capital projects and nonelectrical utilities, while maintenance routines would be better directed.
An area of concern for some members of the assembly was the hit to the general fund proposed by next year’s budget. Just over $400,000 in reserves would need to be expended, in part to meet necessary expenditures for repairing the Public Safety Building and public pool.
In terms of revenue, the city is expected to maintain similar streams for the coming year despite cuts to some sources. Airport security supplements dwindled from $118,633 in FY17 to $29,658 last year, and will be discontinued this year. Slight gains in sales and property taxes are expected to offset reductions from other state and federal sources in the coming year. Increases elsewhere in the budget, such as with personnel, account for some of the growing expenditure.
Member Julie Decker suggested an increase on fees could be helpful to
keeping revenue in line with costs, particularly for flagging enterprise funds like water and solid waste. While admitting she had been opposed to such increases for a number of years, Decker acknowledged dwindling reserve funds and deferred maintenance projects were catching up.
“You can’t just say ‘no’ forever,” she said.
While a rate study has been proposed to determine how Wrangell’s fee structures stack up compared to expenditures and other factors, one area that was in clear trouble was the sanitation fund, Decker pointed out. Its reserves are expected to fall to around $60,000 next year. Expectations for increased barging rates and a timetable to acquire an industrial baler machine in the near future would put it in a more precarious position.
Public Works
director Amber Al-Haddad explained one problem with the fund was a shortcoming in how fees are calculated at the waste transfer yard. However, an across-the-board increase on fees could be counterproductive, she said, as residential pickup rates may already be where they should be. If increases were dealt with at all, she recommended dealing with dumping fees and pickup separately.
“We’ve got to start weighing trash and charging appropriately,” member Stephen Prysunka weighed in.
Some other enterprise funds are already due for slight increases, such as a four-percent rises scheduled for the water fund for each of the next two years. Even with fee increases across all enterprise funds, Von Bargen said the gains would only be slight, while the largest contributors to the general fund are the city’s sales and property taxes. Rates are also enacted by ordinance, so it would require two individual readings and a public hearing to change, meaning they would not make the upcoming budget neatly.
“My struggle is that the real deficit is in the general funds,” said Decker. While a mill rate increase for property taxes was not under consideration in the current budget, she pointed out the rate has remained constant for over a decade.
“It’s been higher, it’s been lower,” she said, looking at the rate’s history. “It’s a potential source to fix a general fund budget.”
While no action was taken toward any changes, she did recommend the assembly make balancing out its budget a priority over the coming year.
In the end, a $21M budget was approved for the coming year, covering all city expenditures, including large-scale capital projects. In all unrestricted reserves, around $8.4M would be maintained, with another $20.6M in restricted funds also held in reserve.
Reader Comments(0)