Daily Sitka Sentinel

Assembly to Approve Surplus Fund Transfer

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

The Assembly will have a full agenda at Tuesday’s regular meeting, with a vote on approval of a city strategic plan, an appeal on a variance request, extending the duration of the Sitka Bear Task Force, a deposit to the city sinking fund, reaffirmation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and approval of a $250,000 project to repair fire damage at Crescent Harbor.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Crescent Harbor Fire

The Crescent Harbor fire, set by juveniles last May, caused damage to a finger float and “fairly immediate repair is needed to ensure damaged sections remain usable through the winter and cause no further damage to the rest of the dock,” a city staff memo to the Assembly said. 

“Given that the finger was so newly replaced, further work will be required to ensure that the original lifespan of the asset will be realized — the second phase of the repair is anticipated to take place in the fall of 2023,” the staff memo said.

Sinking Fund

Every year the city administrator makes a recommendation on how much of the city’s “unassigned fund balance” from the previous budget year should be placed in the public infrastructure sinking fund.

This year administrator John Leach is recommending a $5 million transfer, leaving $9 million in the fund balance from fiscal year 2022.

Finance Director Melissa Haley said this transfer is higher than in prior years, and follows two years of limited capital appropriations for projects, including roads, during the pandemic.

Leach in his memo noted the historic high sales tax receipts for FY22, and Haley added that the city used federal relief funding for revenue replacement in areas such as sales tax revenues.

FY22 sales tax revenue was $16.4 million, which is $3.2 million higher than last year, and $3 million higher than the last pre-pandemic year, FY19.

Haley said fiscal year 2022 revenues include the sales tax receipts from the 2021 partial cruise ship season. The first ship in fiscal year 2022 arrived July 21, 2021, with ships sailing at less than capacity.

“We were very cautious the last couple of years,” Haley said. “When the pandemic first hit we cut capital projects or funded very few in fiscal year 2021. Now that our financial picture has improved, and we used relief funding for revenue replacement, we now have more funds available to invest in capital projects.”

The city finished fiscal year 2022 with a surplus of $4.9 million, Haley said. Fifteen months ago officials expected to finish the year $1.9 million in the red.

Leach had similar comments.

“We were very cautious in a post-pandemic budget environment,” he said. “Making the right investments and spending cautiously have resulted in end-of-the-year surplus budgets, ever since I’ve been here. This gives us the flexibility to make much-needed investments in our infrastructure. Sales tax dollars from the tourists sure helped too.”

Tuesday’s agenda includes other items, such as liquor license renewals, and reports on the tourism survey, and on the seaplane base.