There was a long and, at times, tense meeting over a single issue at city hall last Friday, May 31. The Wrangell Borough Assembly had called a special meeting to make a last-minute decision on how much money to give to the Wrangell School District this year. The assembly had planned to cover the item in their previous meeting on May 28, but opted to table the item to wait for extra financial information from the school. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours the assembly and several school staff members present at the meeting discussed the school's needs and what the city could afford to give out.
The borough was originally considering a contribution of $1,365,117 to the school district. Of this money, $869,887 would come from Secure Rural Schools funds (SRS), while the remainder would be paid out of sales tax money from the city. The number being considered was already $100,000 less than the school district was requesting. According to Alaska statutes, the borough has 30 days upon receipt of their school district's budget to determine the local contribution. As they received the budget on May 1, this was the final day possible to determine the local contribution. Mayor Steve Prysunka said that nobody on the assembly was against giving money to the school district, but that they had to be realistic considering Wrangell's current financial situation.
Georgianna Buhler, with the school district, explained that the district is looking at a much lower carryover from the previous budget than originally anticipated, in the range of $83,000 in unrestricted carryover as opposed to carryover in the $400,000 range. The budget that the school board approved in April is looking to break even, with revenues and expenses at $6.34 million. However, she said that they were already planning to revise this budget later in the month, depending on what the assembly decided. School Board Member Aaron Angerman also spoke up, asking the assembly to not punish the school district by taking away money. The current financial situation was rough right now, he said, but it could be brought somewhere sustainable within a few years. He reminded the board that they were all in this together, as a community.
"I hear a lot of 'we's' and 'you's' but not a lot of 'us's'," he said. "I think that's something we can change. I hope that myself, as being a new budget committee chairperson, can sort of push forward."
Assembly Member Patty Gilbert motioned to amend the item, bringing the local contribution back up to $1.46 million instead of the $1.36 being considered. This was questioned by Assembly Member David Powell. Gilbert said this was because she saw how little the school district would be carrying over from the FY 2019 budget, and she didn't know how the school district would be able to manage without tapping into their reserves.
In response, Prysunka reminded everyone of their own situation. The assembly had adopted a deficit budget last month, and were going to rely on their own reserves to make up a roughly $500,000 difference. There was also an ongoing water crisis, and leaks in the borough's pipes and water systems that had to be fixed. In Prysunka's opinion, he said it would only be fair that the district dip into their reserves, too. While he reiterated that he wanted to give the district more money, it was time to be realistic and remember that the borough had other priorities it could not ignore. After some discussion, Gilbert dropped her amendment.
"As a city, we have so many infrastructure issues we're trying to deal with," Prysunka said. "We're approving deficit budgets and tapping into our reserves, and yet we're not asking the school to tap into their reserve? I've found this process confusing ... I just feel like if we cannot tap into our reserves in that amount, and it comes out of their reserves, that's money for us to do things like replace some water pipe or fixing our reservoir issues."
There were various amendments and amendments to those amendments being considered. Assembly Member Mya DeLong suggested a full payment of SRS funds, plus an additional $57,000 in extra SRS money the borough had received unexpectedly, and that amount would be subtracted from the sales tax contribution. Assembly Member Julie Decker also made a proposition, that the city give $1.3 million to the district, then also offer an additional $200,000 maximum reimbursement package for district maintenance and repair work.
The discussion went on for some time, with school staff asking questions or providing extra information, until Prysunka asked that the board focus and not get the public involved. Eventually, everyone agreed that they had gotten too far off track and scrapped every amendment on the table, restarting with the original motion to contribute $1.36 million to the school district. Decker proposed another option: The borough would give $1.3 million, even, to the district, all of which would be paid out of the SRS funds. The assembly had approximately $3 million of SRS money in reserve, so they could afford to make a sizable payment with just those funds, and then save the sales tax funds to confront the water shortage and other city projects.
A brief recess was called shortly after this proposal, to give everyone a chance to collect their thoughts. After the assembly reconvened, they found this amendment to be favorable. The amendment was adopted, and the full motion adopted shortly after that. The school district will be receiving $1.3 million from the borough this year.
Borough Clerk Kim Lane added that the assembly also approved $100,000 in reimbursement for building repair and maintenance, during the meeting. She also said the city will be spending $65,000 on sidewalk repairs on school property. This brings the total monetary contribution from the city back up to the district's original request of $1.46 million.
Reader Comments(0)