The assembly’s June 25 meeting produced the largest turnout of community members at a meeting all year for the public hearing on the budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.
The budget item that drew the most public testimony was the proposed layoffs at the police department, which had been in the draft budget prepared by the borough manager.
Though the budget, as approved by the assembly, lacks enough money to fund the entire police force for the full fiscal year, there will be no change in staffing levels for a few months and the assembly will consider the issue again at that time.
Assembly members agreed to hold off on any decisions until after the new police chief is on the job and after the results of a union organizing vote are known.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers filed a petition with the state for Wrangell Police Department employees to vote on joining the same union bargaining unit that represents other borough employees. The election is ongoing through the end of July.
Gene Meek, the new police chief, will start July 22.
Community members, law enforcement and public safety personnel testified at the assembly public hearing regarding the proposed layoffs of two officers.
Overall, community members said that fewer police officers would compromise Wrangell’s safety and would burden those still working.
Alisha Seward, the lone Alaska state wildlife trooper in town, gave passionate testimony about the stress of a job in law enforcement. “You do not see a whole lot of people wanting to become police officers because of the job that we do. It is so dangerous. There are people who die on a daily basis for it,” she said to the assembly.
“If you cut these two positions, and you leave these guys to deal with all that weight on them, pretty soon you may not have a police department at all,” Seward warned.
James Nelson, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer, said, “Public safety will never be a revenue maker for the city, but I believe it’s absolutely crucial that we have a well-funded, well-trained, well-equipped and, most importantly, well-staffed police department to ensure the continued safety of our citizens. Cutting police officer positions will lead to extended shifts, increased overtime, faster burnout and major mental health strain. Downtime is absolutely crucial to survival in this field of work.”
Because of the pending election for the police department to unionize, borough employees are limited in what they can say. “We can’t say anything that might influence the vote,” Borough Manager Mason Villarma said.
Villarma said in an interview June 26 that it’s frustrating he can’t share a plan for layoffs, because the plan would be negotiated if police department staff vote to join the union.
Frustrations shared by community members at the assembly meeting also included the lack of warning they received regarding the status of police department jobs.
Villarma explained the thought process behind the proposed budget. “For a long, long time, things weren’t taken care of (in the municipality). Capital projects weren’t done in the past. Maintenance of facilities wasn’t done in the past. Now we’re at this critical point that we’ve inherited. … We have the tough responsibility of using our scarce resources to basically address $200 million in deferred maintenance on top of funding operating expenses.”
He noted the aging underground infrastructure around town and the much needed road maintenance. “We have severe needs in the community to do critical services. And I’m talking about very basic needs: water, sewer, power.”
The Wrangell Police Department is budgeted for seven certified law enforcement positions: The chief, a lieutenant, sergeant and four officers.
Villarma noted police force staff levels in surrounding communities of similar sizes. “Cordova has 2,545 people. They have one police chief, one sergeant, three officers, five total. Skagway has 1,191 people, but heavy tourism … one police chief, one sergeant, three officers, five total. And Haines has 2,547 people (with) one police chief, one sergeant, three officers, five total.”
The state’s latest estimate for Wrangell’s population, as of last summer, is 2,039 residents.
The assembly acknowledged that these are hard times financially for the borough and for taxpayers.
“We did not raise taxes to do this budget, because we made a commitment to keep (property) tax mill rates the same, which is difficult. Now, there's always the opportunity to raise taxes, but nobody wants to do that. We’re all fiscally conservative here. We want to protect the public dollars best we can,” Villarma said.
In an effort to cut spending, this year’s budget does not include contributions to KSTK, the senior center or the chamber of commerce. Rather, the three nonprofits will receive their utilities for free.
“It’s really hard when you're considering things like layoffs and critical needs, and allocating taxpayer dollars to more voluntary type causes, or charitable causes, which are huge and a big piece of bedrock for our community,” Villarma said. “But I think that taxpayers themselves should voluntarily contribute to those things.”
The borough contribution to the senior center last year was $13,000; funding for the chamber has been around $20,000 to $25,000 a year; and KSTK requested $12,500 in the new budget.
The approved budget also included cuts to the parks and recreation department funding. The contribution will drop from $640,000 last year to $554,000. Borough funds cover more than 70% of the budget for the department’s programs and maintenance, including the community center and swimming pool.
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