By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
At a special meeting Thursday, the Assembly took aim at providing some financial relief to businesses and individuals for losses resulting from city and state mandates to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
To that end, Assembly members decided to place ordinances on the Tuesday regular meeting agenda to:
– postpone the deadline for property tax appeals from April 15 to June 15.
– postpone the filing due date for first quarter sales tax, from April 30 to June 30.
All seven members of the Assembly attended the special meeting remotely through the video-conferencing system Zoom. Because of technical problems, public access to the meeting was by YouTube, through a link on the city web page.
City staff (clerk, administrator, attorney, finance director) wore masks and observed social distancing at the meeting, in Harrigan Centennial Hall.
Thursday’s session was one of a series held on the 2020-21 budget. At this meeting the Assembly reviewed the general fund and special revenue funds for fiscal year 2021, and reviewed adjustments in both spending and revenues to take into account the effects of the pandemic.
Help for Citizens and Businesses
After discussion of the financial relief proposals, the Assembly decided to put items on Tuesday’s regular meeting as either emergency ordinances (requiring one reading only) or regular ordinances (requiring two readings).
Valorie Nelson came up with a number of ideas for providing relief for businesses.
“We have to figure out how to help people so they can reopen after this is over,” she said.
The vote was 7-0 to put a property tax appeal ordinance on the Tuesday agenda, and 5-2 (with Steven Eisenbeisz and Kevin Mosher against) to also have an ordinance on the sales tax issue on the agenda.
No one committed to voting in favor or against when the ordinances come up for consideration Tuesday.
While no action was taken on some of Nelson’s other suggestions, there was a general willingness to consider other ideas.
“There may be more people that can come up with ideas that won’t hurt the city’s purse strings too much,” Nelson said.
Thor Christianson said the city could devise relief similar to the federal CARES Act, if resources are available. Other ideas were suggested but set aside because of the pressure to have legislation drafted before the public notice deadline for consideration at Tuesday’s meeting.
Mosher said the Assembly also needs to keep in mind the city’s limited resources.
“When the feds run out, they electronically print (money); when we run out of money, we’re out of money,” he said.
The Assembly at Tuesday’s meeting also will consider an ordinance on second reading that would delay the start of higher summertime electric rates, by two months.
FY21 Budget Review
City finance staff revised the latest draft of the general fund budget, with spending cuts primarily related to the lower revenues expected from the city sales tax.
City Controller Melissa Haley prepared a PowerPoint, which could be followed by the public through YouTube. The changes due to COVID included:
– a $2 million less in sales tax revenues (mostly from the drop in spending from cruise ship passengers).
– no change in state revenue projections, because the city finance staff already projected those declines.
– “Reduced expenditures – some due to pandemic, others out of caution,” finance staff said.
Haley also noted in the PowerPoint, “Lots of unknowns,” which could include access to funds from the federal relief programs. She said it’s too early to know what funding will be available, so no increase from that source was included.
The budget year starts July 1.
The $3.2 million in cuts in spending included:
– $2 million less for capital projects.
– $764,344 less for operations in all departments.
– $205,000 less for health insurance, since the increase was less than expected.
– $250,000 less for transfer to the school bond debt service fund.
The Assembly discussed plans for redirecting funds set aside for paving Lincoln and Katlian streets for other projects, and reviewed in greater detail the budget cuts.
Haley asked Assembly members to propose budget changes sooner rather than later.
The only vote by the Assembly to change the budget as proposed by the administrator and finance department was to reject the cut in Sunday library hours.
Assembly members agreed the $14,000 cost of having the library open on Sundays would be money well-spent, and put the expense back in the budget.
But Christianson also noted that – with the situation changing so often due to COVID – he expects the Assembly will be taking up budget changes at every meeting.
Work Session
A one-hour budget work session preceded the meeting, to discuss ideas for Covid-related financial relief to citizens and businesses.
Christianson said he would agree to co-sponsor items in order to get them on an agenda for action. He said the city has reserves that can be used.
“If there was ever a time to use it, this is it,” he said.
Richard Wein said he’s interested in a larger discussion about city finances, in view of not just COVID but a declining population and the number of school-age kids. He said he wanted to get into discussion of “verboten” issues such as property tax exemptions and the cost of public employee unions.
“We’re talking about a city in contraction,” he said. “I want everything on the table. ... At the end of the day it will help us understand what makes the city run, financially.”
At the end of the discussion, Eisenbeisz, who owns the downtown business Russell’s, talked about his good experience applying for Small Business Administration funds, which will help with payroll.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to keep people employed, to keep them on the payroll, until we get back to … normal,” he said.
He said he heard that some of the national banks have reached their cap and are turning businesses away for the SBA funds, but that help was available to him through a local bank.
