By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
At a sometimes tense four-and-a-half-hour meeting Tuesday, the Assembly approved a 3 percent increase in harbor moorage rates, and passed motions to cut travel and training expenses, and $80,000 from the electric fund.
The 10 percent cut in training and travel and the $80,000 cut in the electric fund mean the fiscal year 2020 budget ordinances on the general fund, enterprise funds, internal service and special revenue funds will need to go back to the Assembly for at least two more readings, members were told.
The Assembly must pass its FY2020 budget by June 20 or the original budget proposed by City Administrator Keith Brady is automatically adopted.
Five of the Assembly members were present at Centennial Hall, and Aaron Bean and Valorie Nelson took part by phone for most of the meeting.
General and Electric Fund
The vote to cut some $38,000 from the travel and training budgets passed 5-1, with Kevin Mosher, Richard Wein, Gary Paxton, Valorie Nelson and Steven Eisenbeisz voting in favor and Kevin Knox voting against.
The motion to adopt the budget and capital improvement plan for the general fund, and the budgets for the internal service and special revenue funds for next year, passed on a 5-1 vote, with Wein voting against.
The item must come back for at least two more readings. Chief Finance and Administrative Officer Jay Sweeney said the proposed cut would have “a lot of impacts up and down the budget.”
The vote was 4-2 to cut $80,000 from the electric fund. Kevin Mosher said the intent of his motion was to cover the loss in consumer revenue if the Assembly approves a shift in the seasonal rate structure. The money to cover the income loss would “come from the line item the administrator chooses.” He said he would recommend the cut come out of the line item for “administration.”
Voting in favor of the cut were Wein, Nelson, Mosher and Paxton. Eisenbeisz and Knox voting against.
(The related ordinance, which would make the period for the lower winter time rates start and end one month later in the year, has not yet been introduced by the Assembly.)
Before taking up the budget ordinances, the Assembly considered a motion by Aaron Bean directing the administrator to propose a budget in which expenditures for fiscal year 2020 would be less than or equal to fiscal year 2019 revenues. Bean initially proposed including depreciation, but later amended his motion to remove that provision.
The proposal led to some heated debate among the Assembly members, a number of whom believed the motion was too general or extreme.
Paxton said he felt the budgets presented by the administrator were balanced, and with appropriate allocations for needed capital projects.
“In every case, there is probably a desire to do more,” he said. Paxton said the city may be able to expand its investment in infrastructure with more economic development opportunities on the horizon, such as the SEARHC expansion and the homeporting of a new Coast Guard vessel, but he believes the administrator’s budget does cover the maintenance of infrastructure.
“In my view, this budget does that,” he said.
“I feel I’m being put in a tight spot,” Eisenbeisz said, responding to Bean’s motion. “There’s way too much on the line to make this decision on such a broad sweeping scale.”
Paxton called the motion “extreme” but Bean countered that he had given the idea a lot of thought and wanted to make a motion that “clears the air.”
“It’s very simple: if you don’t have the money you can’t spend it,” he said.
Paxton rapped his gavel to end comments and called for a vote on Bean’s motion, which failed on a 2-4 vote, with Bean and Nelson in favor.
Bean, who was out of town and participating by phone, said he had to leave and signed off for the remainder of the meeting.
At the end of the evening, Kevin Knox expressed some frustration at the questions raised by Wein that he believed should have been asked in advance of the meeting.
“What I don’t understand is why is the onus on the staff to come to you? Why aren’t you going to them? Why aren’t you asking these questions so answers can be formulated so people can defend or explain the budget?” he said.
Nelson responded, “I don’t think any of us should be attacking each other. We’re all trying to do the best we can ... to make Sitka (affordable) and sustainable.”
Wein said today that he was asking questions out of interest in transparency, and apologized that he hadn’t identified certain issues until the meeting.
Moorage
The vote was 5-1 on the resolution to approve increasing permanent and temporary moorage rates and other harbor fees by 3 percent. Nelson voted against, and Bean had already signed out of the meeting.
“No one wants to see harbor rates go up by 3 percent, let alone 6 percent,” said Knox, who is the Assembly liaison for the Port and Harbors Commission, adding, “Three percent was palatable and it was unanimous from this (the Port and Harbors Commission) body. They’re looking at other ways to deal with this.”
Knox noted this is the first year the general fund has supplemented the harbor enterprise fund to help make ends meet. The harbors also receive all of the city’s share of the state raw fish tax revenue, but Gov. Dunleavy has proposed removing the community share and the Legislature has not yet weighed in on the issue. City Controller Melissa Haley added today that the subsidy from the general fund won’t be needed if the raw fish tax is restored.
Subcommittee
The Assembly agreed to appoint Eisenbeisz, Nelson and Wein to a subcommittee to review city staff positions as they come open and make recommendations to the Assembly.
“The purpose is to justify (positions) from a budgetary perspective,” Mosher said. He said the subcommittee is advisory, with recommendations going to the Assembly.
Bean said he’s interested in a review of which positions should be filled, and whether the city is using its resources “to the extent we should.”
“I’ll be voting no for any slate of candidates,” Knox said. “This is overstep for this body to be managing the administrator in this way.”
Paxton said the city has the same number of employees as it had in 2002.
There was some question about whether the subcommittee meetings needed to be publicly noticed.
The vote was 5-1 to appoint the subcommittee, with Eisenbeisz serving as chair. Knox voted against and Nelson, participating by phone from Ketchikan, signed out temporarily and didn’t vote.
Other Business
On other items the Assembly:
– appointed Dr. Dave Hunt to the Animal Hearing Board and Darryl Rehkopf to the Library Commission.
– voted down a motion to reconsider appointing Victor Weaver to the Planning Commission and Scott Saline to the Sitka Historic Preservation Commission.
– approved on introduction the zoning code related to district regulations and development standards. The purpose is to relax development standards and make housing more affordable, and includes reducing minimum unit size from 4,000 to 3,000 square feet, among other provisions.
– approved asking for the state to remove the Department of Natural Resources deed restrictions on the 5,556-acre Green Lake parcel near Sitka. Gary Paxton Industrial Park Director Garry White said there are economic development opportunities but no room at the park. “This is step 1,” Brady said, referring to the process of getting access to the land for economic development. Wein and Nelson voted against.
– approved the sale of the old Alaska Pulp Corp. administration building at the industrial park to Patrick Barker Jr. for $20,000.10. The purchase includes about an acre of land. White said the most recent appraisal put the building’s value at zero, before it was hit by the 2015 landslide. Wein noted the $60,000 in heating and maintenance costs per year, and said, “(Barker) certainly has his work cut out for him. I think the city is doing the right thing.”
– voted unanimously in favor of a 50-50 federal matching grant application for new bullet proof vests for Sitka police officers.
– approved a memorandum of agreement for the electric department to lease space at the industrial park to store shot rock created by blasting for the dam expansion project.
– approved an agreement for a lease of space at the Katlian Street Marine Service Center to North Pacific Seafoods.
– approved temporary hiring of employees for Harrigan Centennial Hall, the clerk’s office, the utility desk and the city grounds crew. Bean and Nelson voted against.
– approved sending Nelson and Sweeney to an Alaska Municipal League work group meeting in Anchorage to discuss negotiation of sales tax definitions, and governance of a single level online sales tax authority. The effort is related to collection of sales tax for online sales. The main discussion at the Assembly table was whether Sweeney or Nelson would go, but the Assembly narrowly agreed to send both, with Paxton, Mosher, Knox and Eisenbeisz voting in favor. Nelson was selected to speak on the city’s behalf on a 5-2 vote, with Nelson and Eisenbeisz voting against. The final vote on the motion was 5-2 with Eisenbeisz and Wein voting against. Eisenbeisz said today that he would have preferred to send the finance director.
