It's a good thing Mayor-elect Dan Sullivan has brought aboard a couple of veteran hands for his financial team. The city is facing grim budget prospects -- it's so bad, the city's main library can stay open only four days a week until fall. This is no time for rookies or on-the-job training. Cheryl Frasca will serve again as budget chief, as she did for Mayor George Wuerch and Gov. Frank Murkowski. Sullivan recruited Nancy Usera, a former state commissioner of labor and administration, to handle labor relations.
Both Usera and Frasca say they're well aware of the challenges ahead. Mayor-elect Sullivan outlined them at his press conference Monday:
Police and firefighter retirement funds are "tens of millions of dollars" short. The city's mini-permanent fund, whose steep drop opened a big hole in the current budget, isn't likely to bounce back up any time soon. The city can't count on state revenue sharing, given today's gyrating oil prices. New labor contracts have work rules that hamstring the city's management flexibility.
Given all that, Sullivan said Monday he aims to produce a budget that spends less than this year's does.
Frasca and Usera will be joined by Greg Jones, Sullivan's pick for community and economic development director. Jones will try to grow the taxpaying part of the economy and improve the local quality of life, despite tight budgets.
The new mayor says the No. 1 priority for his new financial team is to set "a new level of accountability and budget discipline." Sullivan wants to avoid any repeat of this year's mess, when the budget that passed the Assembly didn't reflect big investment losses that were already piling up.
Whether the incoming mayor and his team succeed on the financial front is going to touch just about every resident of Anchorage. Their success will affect whether police can respond to a call for help in time and how fast fire trucks arrive at a blaze. The budget determines whether grass in city parks turns into hay fields, how many days it takes for streets and sidewalks to get plowed and whether kids are jammed into local classrooms.
It's unlikely 500-plus people will ever sign up to speak to the assembly about the budget. It just doesn't stir the same passion as the pending anti-discrimination ordinance -- but it could have a lot more effect on a lot more people's lives.
The mayor-elect told voters he would keep city spending affordable and keep improving the quality of life in a growing community. Here's hoping he succeeds.
BOTTOM LINE: Mayor-elect Sullivan has picked an experienced financial team. They've got a hard job ahead.