Anchorage

Anchorage Assembly sets reimbursement rules for campaigning officials, begins considering $15 million surplus

A big budget surplus and new rules for traveling city officials were the big items at the Tuesday night Anchorage Assembly meeting at the Loussac Library.

The Municipality of Anchorage said it spent about $15 million less than it budgeted for the year 2013. How to use the surplus will be debated at a work session next Wednesday, but some of the money will likely be put into savings.

"We need to be cautious how we deal with the surplus this year, because there are clouds on the horizon for state spending," Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan said.

Sullivan said some of the savings would be put into one-time projects, which will be discussed at the April 16 Assembly work session.

The Assembly, on Tuesday, also passed a change in the city's code to require city officials to reimburse the Municipality for any campaign time and expenses while traveling on city business. The rule change will go into effect in January, 2015 -- to give the city time to figure out how to implement the change. The ordinance was introduced by Assembly member Amy Demboski, who said she wanted to bring city code into line with state laws.

The issue came into the public eye in December of 2013 after Mayor Dan Sullivan, currently a candidate for lieutenant governor, held a fundraiser in Washington D.C. in December while there on city business. Sullivan -- on the advice of state elections officials -- reimbursed the city for the time and expenses related to his campaign fundraising on the trip, and another trip to Kenai in November. While Demboski got the idea for the code change after the Sullivan trip, the Assembly member said she wasn't targeting the mayor.

"It is not meant to be a poke in anyone's eye," Demboski said.

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The current Anchorage Assembly will change next week, when on April 15, the body will swear in new members after the results of the April 1 municipal election are certified. It will also vote to elect a new chair and vice-chair.

The identity of the next chair could be especially important this year, should Sullivan win his race to be Alaska's next lieutenant governor in the fall. By code, if a mayor leaves office before the end of his term, the Assembly chair becomes acting mayor. In this case, an acting mayor would serve until July 1, 2015, when the next mayor will be sworn in.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the amount of the surplus as $10 million.

Sean Doogan

Sean Doogan is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News.

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