The Wrangell Borough Assembly met this week to begin their workshopping of Wrangell's budget for FY 2021. This first round of workshops looked at various city departments that are funded through the Enterprise Funds which includes the harbor, light and power, sanitation, wastewater, and water departments.
There were two workshops over the past week, on May 19 and May 21. According to the meeting's agenda packet for May 19, there were several things for the assembly to keep in mind when looking at the budgets. Beginning balances, according to Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen, are based on FY 2019 audited numbers and estimated revenues and expenditures for the current financial year. Ending balance numbers are estimated on the beginning balance minus estimated revenues and expenses for FY 2021.
Von Bargen also pointed out that there was a new line item added to the budgets, titled "30% Working Capital." According to the agenda packet, the 30 percent is the recommended amount that the Government Accounting Standards Board says municipalities should keep in reserve in case of emergencies. This means that each department will be subtracting 30 percent of their ending balances for FY 2021 to save.
Assembly Member Julie Decker wanted to know if the city could provide a look at how funds for these different departments have changed over the past 10 years. It would be helpful to her if she could get a look at the wider picture, she said, and not just the immediate revenues and expenses. Finance Director Joyce Mason said she could probably get something like that put together.
"A very generalized chart, line graph, whatever you can come up with," Decker said. "I think it gives a good 30,000 foot level understanding of what's happening in the city."
In summary, the Harbors and Port Fund is looking to be profitable this upcoming year. Between the harbor department, The Marine Service Center, and the ports, revenues are estimated at $1.45 million, plus a beginning fund balance of about $1.21 million. The end of the year fund balance is estimated at approximately $1.49 million.
Decker had a question as to why transient moorage was decreasing by $90,000 in the harbor fund, from $170,000 in revenue in the approved FY 2020 budget to $80,000 in FY 2021. The agenda packet states that this reflects revenue reductions in transient moorage in FY 2020 as compared to FY 2019 and 2018. The year-to-date actuals for FY 2020 stand at about $74,000. Harbor Master Greg Meissner said that there were multiple reasons behind this reduction, as well.
"Our transients aren't just the independent travelers coming through, the fishermen coming through," Meissner said. "It's a combination of the yachters and the summer traffic, the transient fishermen, as well as locals who do not have stalls who pay what is considered a transient fee ... We did add new stalls in Shoemaker so a few folks got off that transient list into a stall, and we anticipate a lot less independent traveller activity this year."
Wrangell Municipal Light and Power, according to the operating budget looked at in the workshop, will just barely be staying out of the red in FY 2021. Revenues are estimated at about $3.99 million, while expenses are estimated at about $3.95 million. There will be about $37,277 in profits at the end of the year. The agenda packet points out that the budget for large commercial sales were reduced by $50,000, to account for Trident Seafoods not operating in Wrangell this season.
Assembly Member Patty Gilbert had a question about insurance for WML&P, particularly why insurance rates were increasing from about $19,000 this year to almost $46,000 for FY 2021. Rod Rhoades, with Light and Power, explained that his department added several new generators recently, among other equipment. He speculated, he said, that part of the increase comes from all this new equipment on their insurance rolls. Mason added that there have been no insurance claims from the department that would explain a rise in insurance rates, but insurance costs by themselves have also recently increased. The value of the department's property has recently been reevaluated and increased, Von Bargen added.
The budget for Wrangell's cemetery has been decreased for next year, from $61,500 in expenses to $55,000. However, the agenda packet reads, a budget revision may be required if there are more burials or columbarium internments than anticipated this coming financial year.
During the May 19 workshop, the assembly briefly looked at the solid waste/sanitation budget, the wastewater budget, and the water budget. However, due to assembly members finding various errors in the budget's layout that needed to be cleaned up, it was agreed to put those topics on hold until the next meeting.
Funding for sanitation/solid waste is roughly the same as this current year, according to the agenda packet for the May 21 workshop. The FY 2020 budget was approved at revenues of $623,000 and expenses of $433,640. The FY 2021 budget has revenues of $623,523 and expenses of $419,273. The assembly spent a good part of their discussion on this part of the budget on their interest in using recycling and glass crushing to lower costs.
The wastewater fund has revenue estimated at $595,057 and expenses at $432,384. Both revenues and expenses are estimated slightly higher than FY 2020, but not by much. There is a small reduction in revenues being considered due to less wastewater being needed as Trident Seafoods will not be operating in 2020. The budget is also updated to reflect 1.5 FTE, or full time employment.
The water fund has revenues set for $599,776, a decrease from about $800,000 in the approved budget for FY 2020. However, once again, this is taking into consideration the fact that Trident Seafoods is not operating this year. Total expenses are estimated at $638,833. This is less than the FY 2020 budgeted expenses of $799, 898, but more than the FY 2020 year-to-date expenses of $485,070.
The residential construction fund is also looking to end FY 2021 in the negatives this year. Revenues are estimated only for $7,000, a large decrease from the year-end estimate of $38,608 for FY 2020. Expenses are estimated at $98,000. The majority of these expenses come from engineering and surveying for the Institute Property, according to the draft operating budget, as well as expenses for the Byford and Etolin properties.
Industrial construction is also estimated to have expenditures higher than revenues, $15,000 versus $12,500. However, the industrial fund also has an existing balance of about $340,000, so the fund can accept this blow without dipping into negative numbers.
The May 21 workshop was concluded with a brief look at Wrangell's Secure Rural Schools funding. The budget is anticipating receiving a little less than $2.8 million in SRS funding for FY 2021. This is a decrease from the year-to-date SRS funds of about $3.36 million in SRS Wrangell received this year. Of the revenue, $1.3 million is being estimated to be given out to the school district, plus an additional $100,000 for maintenance. Another $112,000 is being set aside for street repairs.
At the conclusion of the last workshop, Von Bargen asked if the assembly would be agreeable to pushing the next round of workshops back to the first week of June. She and Mason needed more time to get the next sections of the budget prepared for review. After some brief discussion, the assembly agreed to this plan.
Reader Comments(0)