Anchorage

Anchorage Assembly to hold first city budget hearing Tuesday night

The Anchorage Assembly is holding a special meeting Tuesday night to start hearing from the public on Mayor Ethan Berkowitz's 2017 proposed city budget, which includes money for more police officers but cuts to services like snow removal.

The meeting marks the first of two sets of hearings on the budget. The second round of hearings is set for the Assembly's Nov. 1 meeting.

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz's proposed $502 million operating budget, up from $497 million in the current year, uses a combination of cuts, savings and new revenue to fill what Berkowitz described as a roughly $40 million gap between revenues and expenses heading into 2017. In explaining the cause for the gap, Berkowitz has pointed to rising labor and health care costs, state cutbacks and the impending payoff of an expensive upgrade to Anchorage's business software.

To fill the gap, Berkowitz has proposed cuts to snow removal, fuel and fleet maintenance, city ice rink maintenance and holiday bus service. The Anchorage Fire Department is cutting its overtime budget by close to $1 million.

Other departments are shedding staff. Ten filled positions are slated to be cut, though all but two are related to the SAP software project, which is set to be completed next spring. The proposed budget axes 56 vacant positions next year, including five lifeguard jobs.

But Berkowitz is also proposing to increase the number of cops by 56, bringing the net change in city employees from 2,272 in 2016 to 2,296 in 2017.

New revenues include a local marijuana sales tax, expected to bring in several million dollars in 2017.

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The proposed budget amounts to a property tax increase of $46 for an average home valued at $300,000. The average property tax paid in 2016 was $4,386 on a $300,000 home.

Testimony will also begin Tuesday night on the administration's proposed capital and utility budgets.

In the capital budget, police officials are asking for $500,000 in bond money to make "security improvements" to the Anchorage Police Department headquarters, particularly around entrances and exits. Fire officials want two new fire engines and three new ambulances. There's also a $750,000 bond request for upgrading city streetlights to more energy-efficient LED lights.  

Assembly members are expected to discuss their own proposed changes during a work session Nov. 10. The administration will also come up with an amended version based on feedback from the public, said city budget director Lance Wilber.

The Assembly is expected to debate and adopt the budget during its Nov. 15 meeting.

Anyone with questions, comments or interest in the budget is encouraged to testify during the upcoming hearings, Wilber said.

Tuesday's budget hearings are set to start at 6 p.m. No other items are on the agenda.

Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly was an ADN staff reporter.

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