Borough begins work on budget belt-tightening

PALMER — It’s so early in the Mat-Su Borough’s budget season that there’s not even really a budget to comb through yet.

But marching orders to the various departments seem to show where this budget ship is heading.

“I have asked my departments to come in at a zero dollar increase, across the board, everything,” said Mat-Su Borough Manager John Moosey.

He said there are a few things putting pressure on the budget. One is the property tax exemption for senior citizens that voters expanded last fall. The other is state revenue sharing — money the Legislature funnels to municipalities — that Moosey said it’s fair to assume will be less this year than in the past.

In fact, with dire budget projections in Juneau due to severely depressed oil prices, it’s fair to assume the state is going to look to cut its contributions to local governments where it can.

It’s made the usual budget-time quandary at the borough all the more severe.

“Do we do that by more revenue in a variety of different ways or do we reduce services?” Moosey asked. “I’m sure we’re going to have some great discussion with the assembly on the direction of the assembly.”

That’s the picture at least on the operations side — money to keep the government running — rather than on the capital side — money to build things like buildings and roads.

On the capital side, the Legislature has already received a list of funding requests the borough put together this fall. Right at the top is $2.2 million for the first phase of a regional sewage treatment plant. Next is $120 million to keep working on extending rail to Point MacKenzie. Third is $14.4 million in matching funds for road bonds voters approved for school site access and safety in 2013. Fourth on the list is a $4 million request for a project that would protect the docks at Point MacKenzie. Fifth is a $5 million request to build a new visitor’s center near the intersection of the Parks and Glenn Highways.

The shrinking revenue, fiscal solvency, the budget and what to do about it wound up at the top of the list of priorities for the coming year that the assembly decided on during a meeting at Evangelo’s Restaurant Feb. 23.

Assemblyman Jim Sykes said that, before his tenure there — he was elected in 2013 — the borough assembly seemed to constantly talk about diversifying tax revenue.

“Before I got here the mantra has been, ‘diversify our sources of income and our sources of revenue for the borough,’ but instead we cut it off,” he said, referring to ordinances that abolished the borough’s airplane tax, reduced its business inventory tax, and will soon reduce the amount of money the borough gets from vehicle registration fees.

“I do not think it’s responsible to give away freebies and then have the solution for what you just gave away to have the manager come in with a lower budget number,” Sykes said. “The assembly should say what it’s gonna cut.”

Moosey is scheduled to present his budget April 23. Budget public hearings will start on May 4. The last budget meeting is scheduled for May 13, though the budget could be adopted sooner.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.