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The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night boosted the budget in two major areas, adding $200,000 to prepare for a police training academy and $77,000 to restore bus service on two holidays.
The vote was 6-5 on the police academy -- short of the eight votes needed to withstand a potential veto by Mayor Dan Sullivan. The mayor has a week to decide what, if anything, to veto. He is on a trip Outside and did not attend the meeting. The vote on restoring bus service the day after Thanksgiving and on Veteran's Day was 9-2, with Chris Birch and Bill Starr opposed. The city regularly revises its budget in the first quarter of the year, before sending out tax bills. The tax bills are due to go out by May 15. The Assembly voted down a proposal to add $200,000 to the budget to prepare for a firefighter training academy. The vote was 5 in favor, 6 against. Fire Chief Mark Hall told the Assembly he is working on a plan for alternatives to holding a full academy, such as hiring people already trained as emergency medical technicians or as volunteer firefighters. The added money for police would allow an academy itself to start up in the first quarter of 2011, said Assemblymember Paul Honeman, who sponsored the amendment. Police Chief Mark Mew said it takes several months to prepare for an academy. The mayor had proposed little in the way of budget revisions. He called for spending the same amount as when the Assembly first passed the 2010 budget in December: $421.3 million. Total city tax bills under the Sullivan plan would rise about $120 over last year for the owner of a $300,000 house, said city budget director Cheryl Frasca. The Assembly's additions wouldn't change the mill rate, Frasca said.