The Wrangell Borough Assembly held an emergency meeting last Thursday night to adopt a "surplus property agreement" with the Nome Joint Utility System. The surplus property in question is a pair of diesel generators currently sitting in storage in Nome. Power has been a topic of concern around Wrangell, and amongst the assembly, thanks in part to the recent hydropower shortages at Tyee and Swan Lake. Wrangell currently has four diesel generators which it can use for power in the event of an emergency. It was brought up in a February assembly meeting that these generators could meet the city's power needs, but in the event one of them failed it would mean rolling blackouts around town.
Electrical Utilities Director Rod Rhoades originally brought forward the idea to purchase the Nome generators. They had been sitting in storage for about a decade, he said in the February meeting, but they were in good condition. Between purchasing them, moving them to Wrangell, and installing them, he said the cost would be roughly $300,000.
According to the agenda packet for the meeting, the only request from Nome was that the agreement address insurance and liability coverage for staff and for the generators once ownership passes to Wrangell. This would not be much of an issue, the packet explained, and the city administration was working to make sure Wrangell would have the proper coverage. After a brief discussion, the agreement was accepted unanimously.
After that business was taken care of, the meeting was adjourned so the assembly could hold a budget workshop. Since the beginning of May, the assembly has been meeting to go over different aspects of the borough's financial needs for FY 2019-2020, department by department. According to a summary of funds, Wrangell is looking at roughly $15.58 million in revenues, and $20.72 million in expenditures. The borough will have an estimated $31 million in reserves on July 1, 2019, according to the draft. After this budget, those reserves will be down to about $25.76 million.
The first thing the assembly looked at last Thursday was the parks and recreation budget. The parks and rec department is requesting about $960,000, according to Director Kate Thomas. As far as expenses go, they are estimated to be about $973,000. The largest expense, according to a draft of the budget, is wages and salaries at $140,000. There was also an increase in the category of "travel and training," which was put at $16,920. This is an increase of roughly $4,000 from FY 2018-2019. Thomas said that this increase was meant to help pay for several certification classes for parks and recreation staff, and also for traveling expenses for youth basketball and Wolfpack Wrestling.
Mayor Steve Prysunka requested that Thomas put together a detailed copy of what traveling and training the department was hoping for, while Assembly Member Dave Powell said he wanted to see a list of service orders for parks and recreation equipment. Assembly Member Patty Gilbert pointed to a line item that caught her eye, $1,500 for dog waste bags. She asked why the department needed so much money for this item, to which Thomas responded that dog waste bags were expensive, and they had several areas where they needed to be supplied.
The Planning and Zoning budget was reviewed next. Wrangell's planning and zoning commission is estimating $31,030 in expenses for FY 2019-2020, which is a steep decrease from the previous budget of $64,500 in projected costs. Part of the reason the expenditures are lower is because one item of the budget, "surveys", is expected to be spent out of the Residential Construction Fund this year. The economic development director said that the planning and zoning commission is planning to conduct a number of surveys in the near future, such as lots of land along Etolin Avenue, a survey of the former Byford Junkyard site, and others. The budget did not list how much these surveys would cost, but the FY 2018-2019 budget listed survey costs at $35,000. Aside from thanking Rushmore for all her hard work, the assembly did not have any questions for this portion of the budget.
Ports and harbors were a major topic of discussion at the meeting. The Port and Harbors Administration is looking at about $400,690 in expenses. The harbor department itself is looking at revenues of $824,076 and expenditures of $594,678. The port fill, dock, and barge ramp are expected to generate a total of $282,490 in revenue at a cost of $260,607. The Marine Service Center and travel lifts will generate revenues of $411,675 and cost $345,138.
Prysunka said that there was something he wanted the harbor department to add to the budget, which he did not see listed. The dock at Meyers Chuck needed some maintenance done to it, but he did not see any funds being set aside for the work. Prysunka said that Meyers Chuck, located about 60 miles south of Wrangell, as the raven flies, is part of the borough. While they are not on Wrangell Island itself, as residents of the borough they needed to be taken care of just the same as everyone else.
The Convention and Visitor's Bureau is also expecting to bring in $66,250 and spend $84,000 this budget. The borough also plans to use $215,000 of the Commercial Passenger Vessel Excise Tax Fund for various projects. These include Mt. Dewey trail extensions, construction of bathrooms at Petroglyph Beach, construction of a covered shelter at City Dock, and others. $50,000 of the Marian Glenz Memorial Fund will also be used for marketing purposes.
The assembly will be having numerous other budget workshops through the rest of the month. There will be formal assembly meetings on May 14 and 28. To learn more about the budget workshops or to see the draft budget, visit the city calendar at http://www.wrangell.com.
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