Whatever the report by city attorney Dennis Wheeler says about Mayor Begich, it has definitively settled some key questions about the collective bargaining agreements the Assembly approved last year. In contrast to an earlier report by private attorney Joseph Levesque and criticism by Assemblyman Bill Starr, Wheeler concluded the union contracts are legally valid.

Levesque had argued that two contracts weren't properly certified by the city's chief financial officer, who had to say that funds were available to pay the contracts.

Wheeler found the Assembly had a 20-year record of approving collective bargaining agreements and amendments with no such certification. In addition, he pointed out that, especially with regard to contracts as long as five years, the city cannot make any such certification. The city can estimate that the necessary revenues will be there but there is no way to guarantee those estimates are correct.

Also, Wheeler pointed out, the certification-of-funds requirement applies to promises to pay a third party, like a contractor. A collective bargaining agreement establishes work rules and compensation but does not guarantee that a specific amount of money will be spent. Workers can be laid off, departments cut.

Wheeler also made short work of the possibility that the contracts might be invalid because the Assembly didn't have all the financial information it needed. His report, even while critical of the administration, concedes that the Assembly had a great deal of information in hand about city finances and the economic outlook -- enough to prompt members like Starr to oppose the contracts.

In addition, Wheeler says, amendments to the contracts during the first half of 2009 and the Assembly's vote against rescinding the IBEW contract were in effect acts of ratification.

In short, both sides bargained in good faith and the Assembly approved the deals. When the full picture of the city's financial shortcomings emerged, both sides agreed to amendments.

We believe the contracts as first approved were too generous and too long, given the city's finances and the continuing uncertainty of U.S. and global economies. But they were always valid agreements, bound to be honored and subject to change only with the agreement of both sides.