It was a pretty packed Wednesday evening (April 25) at City Hall. The Assembly started with a Special Assembly Meeting to hear public comments on the budget. Five people spoke on the Juneau School District budget, specifically the automotive program. The Assembly also, as scheduled, made a preliminary decision on the school district budget funding – $26.4 million for fiscal year 2019, which would be the maximum local contribution allowed by state law if the state ends up passing an increase to per student funding. The school district has requested an additional $1.3 million for food service, student activities, school transportation and the Community Schools program. The Assembly Finance Committee will start deliberating on this during its May 3 meeting.

Now onto what happened at the Finance Committee Meeting, which started immediately after the Special Assembly Meeting. The committee approved the Youth Activities Board budget of $332,500, as well as Bartlett Regional Hospital’s budget of about $101 million. The Downtown Business Association made an impassioned presentation and requested $75,000, which the finance committee has put on its pending list.

Speaking of the pending list, it got a whole lot longer by the end of the meeting. But before we get into what got added, let’s go over what proposed budget items are already there – snowmaking at Eaglecrest ($250,000) and a couple requests from Juneau Economic Development Council ($25,000 and $165,000).

On Wednesday night, the Finance Committee discussed the Mayor’s Pending List Items and the Manager’s Pending List Items for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, which are all additional proposed budget items to be considered.

The Mayor’s List had 24 items.

  • Seven of those items were taken off to be addressed after the budget process : Extend fire service to roaded system; increase social service grants; community youth grants/high school activity grants/community service grants; water/sewer credit card payment program; millage rate rebate for non roaded property tax owners;senior sales tax reinstatement; and sales tax receipts rebate.
  • Five items will be addressed by the Assembly in the next couple of weeks: Civilian investigative staff; additional prosecutorial support staff; video camera grant; contract parking enforcement; and KinderReady preschool program in every elementary school.
  • And the remaining 12 will be added the Finance Committee pending list: Litter enforcement/abatement; dog licensing enforcement; incentives for sprinkler installation in high density areas; cleanup abandoned vehicles on public and private land; airport curb drop off education; emergency cold weather shelter; mental health study/substance abuse treatment study; work incentives; maintaining JSD facility grounds; Teacher Excellence Fund; second crossing CIP; and parking CIP. (Check out the list to see the dollar amounts)

The Manager’s List had seven items.

  • Three of these items were taken off to be addressed after the budget process: CCFR operational study; Juneau Renewable Energy Strategy implementation; and Recycleworks funding.
  • One item – recruitment and retention incentives – will be discussed at the April 30 Assembly Committee of the Whole work session.
  • And the other three will be added the Finance Committee pending list: Downtown Coordinator; business case/high level cost estimate for New City Hall; and CLIA litigation. (Again, check out the list to see the dollar amounts)

The Assembly Finance Committee will begin looking at this pending list at its next meeting on Thursday, May 3 at 5 pm in City Hall Chambers (note the different day of the week and different start time). The committee will also hear presentations from the Juneau Commission on Aging and Best Starts. It’s scheduled to take action on the Marine Passenger Free Recommendations.

Till next time…