I am grateful that the Anchorage Assembly unanimously approved the municipality’s amended budget last week. Unfortunately, the mayor vetoed almost all the amendments they had so carefully considered and refined.
He stated that these vetoes are to rein in city spending, which he believes has increased by 20% over the past four years, but if we adjust for inflation, according to Nolan Klouda, the director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Alaska Anchorage Business Enterprise Institute, spending increased by just 0.2% — only a slight increase during a period with a huge earthquake and a pandemic.
The Assembly has been and continues to be fiscally responsible. They should override the mayor’s vetoes to support the programs that make Anchorage a place that we want to live in.
— Andrew Gray
Anchorage
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