Updated budget balancing tool & childcare on tonight’s Assembly Finance Committee agenda

The City and Borough of Juneau Manager will present an updated budget strategy to the Assembly during tonight’s Assembly Finance Committee meeting, which starts at 5 p.m. Also on the agenda is a COVID-19 update, COVID-19 related childcare support, Economic Stabilization Task Force Recommendations, a capital improvement project update, and the FY21 Budget pending items list. Read the full agenda packet here.

Follow along with the 5 p.m. meeting: Join the Zoom Webinar https://juneau.zoom.us/j/91513381022, watch on Facebook Live, or call 1-346-248-7799 and enter Webinar ID: 915 1338 1022.

In a memo to the Finance Committee, City Manager Rorie Watt lays out several budget assumptions and presents his revised budget strategy. CBJ faces a revenue shortfall of $34.5 million over the next 30 months. Members of the public are invited to try to balance the CBJ budget on this Excel spreadsheet. By charter, the Assembly is required to pass a budget by June 15.

Also on the agenda are recommendations for COVID-19 related childcare funding. Based on guidance from the Economic Stabilization Task Force, Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove is recommending the Finance Committee consider disbursing about $1 million of federal CARES Act to local childcare providers from June to December.

Also on the agenda is the Budget Pending List, which includes several items, from grants to local organizations to Marine Passenger Fee recommendations to budget reduction scenarios.

May 20th, 2020|

Finance Committee to discuss CARES funding, budget requests & reductions at 5 p.m.

With the City and Borough of Juneau facing a revenue shortfall of $34.5 million over the next 30 months, the Assembly Finance Committee resumes its work on the budget tonight, May 13, at 5 p.m. Agenda items include CARES Act funding; enterprise fund budgets; grant requests; and budget reductions. Read the full agenda here.

Follow along with the 5 p.m. meeting: Join the Zoom Webinar https://juneau.zoom.us/j/92033584393, watch on Facebook Live, or call 1-346-248-7799 and enter Webinar ID 920 3358 4393.

Here are some things the Finance Committee will be looking at tonight:

The Assembly is scheduled to pass a budget and set the property tax mil levy on June 15.

May 13th, 2020|

Comment on the proposed budget at Special Assembly Meeting April 22

The public is invited to provide feedback on the proposed budget at a Special Assembly Meeting April 22 at 5 p.m. The public can comment on the property tax mill levy rate, the City and Borough of Juneau operating budget, the Juneau School District general operating budget, and the capital improvement program. An Assembly Finance Committee meeting will immediately follow. Both meetings will be conducted completely online.

If you want to provide public comment during the Special Assembly meeting:

  • Call the Municipal Clerk’s public testimony request phone line at 586-0215 by 3 p.m. April 22

OR

  • Send an email to [email protected] by 3 p.m. April 22 and provide your full name, email address, the phone number you’ll be calling from, and the agenda topic(s) on which you wish to testify. The Clerk’s office will then contact you with instructions on connecting to the Special Assembly Meeting to provide public testimony.

Testimony time will be limited by the Mayor based on the number of participants. Members of the public are encouraged to send their comments in advance of the meeting to [email protected].

Items up for public hearing at the Special Assembly Meeting include:

  • Ordinance 2020-08: An Ordinance Establishing the Rate of Levy for Property Taxes for Calendar Year 2020 Based Upon the Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2021
  • Ordinance 2020-09: An Ordinance Appropriating Funds from the Treasury for FY21 City and Borough Operations
  • Ordinance 2020-10: An Ordinance Appropriating Funds from the Treasury for FY21 School District Operations
  • Resolution 2877: A Resolution Adopting the City and Borough Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2021 through 2026, and Establishing the Capital Improvement Project Priorities for Fiscal Year 2021

The public can listen to both the Special Assembly and Assembly Finance Committee meetings in a few different ways:

Read the Special Assembly Meeting agenda packet for more information on the public hearing items. Here’s the Assembly Finance Committee meeting agenda packet.

For more information, contact the City Clerk’s Office at 586-5278.

April 21st, 2020|

As Assembly wrestles with $34.5 million deficit, manager introduces budget tool & recommends delaying pool renovation

The City and Borough of Juneau is looking at a revenue shortfall of $34.5 million over the next 30 months, due to factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this projected loss, City Manager Rorie Watt is introducing a budget tool at tonight’s Assembly Finance Committee meeting to help the Assembly balance the budget. The meeting starts at 5 p.m.

“Given our economic situation, we simply cannot continue to provide the same levels of public service at the same levels of taxation. Several somethings have to give and that includes cutting services and employment, raising taxes, spending reserves and/or being fortunate enough to get financial aid from the State as result of the Federal CARES legislation efforts,” Watt said.

The biggest part of the $34.5 million deficit stems from loss of sales tax, as well as less state funding for school bond debt reimbursement. In the proposed budget, which was introduced April 1, the City Manager recommends a property tax increase of 1 mill, for a total mill levy rate of 11.66. This would partially offset the loss from sales tax; 1 mill for one year generates about $5.5 million in revenue. For the typical homeowner, the proposed mill rate increase would result in a $300-$500 increase to annual property tax, and considerably less to an individual living in a condominium or rental apartment.

The interactive, high-level budget balancing tool is an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to “fix” the deficit by looking at changes to revenue and expenditures. Revenue changes include property tax increase, drawing from savings, as well as COVID-19 funding. Expenditure changes include reduction in CBJ operations, reduction in Assembly grants, as well as reduction in capital improvement project funding.

One of the expenditure change options is a reduction of capital improvement project funding to the Augustus Brown Pool in Downtown Juneau. A major renovation at the pool is scheduled to start in July. In a memo to the Finance Committee dated April 14, the city manager is recommending to delay the renovations, maintain the pool in good working order, re-allocate the $3.3 million of capital improvement project funding to the budget problem, and to revisit this situation in about six months.

The Assembly is scheduled to pass a budget and set the property tax mil levy by June 15.

For more information, contact City Manager Rorie Watt at 586-5240 or [email protected].

April 15th, 2020|

Amidst COVID-19 uncertainty, Assembly begins budget process

The Juneau Assembly will begin its multi-week process tomorrow, April 1, to determine the City and Borough of Juneau’s biennial budget for Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022. The City Manager will introduce the preliminary budget during a Special Assembly Meeting at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Chambers, immediately followed by an overview presentation on the proposed budget at an Assembly Finance Committee meeting. The City and Borough of Juneau’s Facebook page will Facebook Live both meetings.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proposed budget may not fully take into consideration the potential impact of the virus on Juneau’s community and economy. Given the unprecedented level of uncertainty, the budget that eventually gets approved may be considered an “interim” or “draft” budget, with the intention to return to a formal budget process after the scope and scale of the spread of COVID-19 is more fully understood.

As it stands, the manager’s proposed citywide budget of $389 million is up $20.4 million from the FY20 Amended Budget and includes the following major components:

  • $87.3 million for the Juneau School District, a decrease of $1.3 million (1.5%) over the FY20 Amended Budget. This decrease reflects targeted cuts made by the School District in response to State funding levels.
  • $152.3 million for Enterprise Funds (hospital, airport, water utilities, docks, and harbors), an increase of $13.9 million (10%) over the FY20 Amended Budget. This change is due to an increase in hospital and airport expenditures.
  • $78.3 million for general government, a decrease of $2.2 million (2.7%) from the FY20 Amended Budget. This was driven by decreases of one-time funding requests recommended by the Manager and the Assembly, offset by increases in personnel services and insurance costs.
  • $50.6 million for initial capital improvement projects, an increase of $11.1 million (28.0%). Additional appropriations may be made throughout the year as funding gets committed.
  • $15.7 million for the bond debt service budget, a decrease of $1.0 million (6.1%) over the FY20 Amended Budget. This reflects a reduction in outstanding school construction debt, as multiple bonds were fully paid off during FY20.

In light of COVID-19, the budget reflects revised projections of sales tax revenues and cruise ship passenger fees due to the impact the virus will have on Juneau’s 2020 and 2021 cruise ship seasons. Additionally, the budget proposes a property tax increase of 1 mil, for a total mill levy rate of 11.66. The breakdown of the proposed mill levy is: 10.46 mills for the operating budget, an increase of 1.0 mills over FY20, and 1.2 mills for debt service, remaining flat over FY20. With this proposed change, CBJ is projecting to collect $57.6 million in property tax revenues in FY21 which would offset the depletion of unrestricted fund balance and restricted budget reserve in light of reduced revenues from sales tax and passenger fees due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, contact Finance Director Jeff Rogers at 723-6907 or [email protected].​

March 31st, 2020|