I have been down south in Washington and Oregon doing some family visits and vacation. Last night I "attended" the regular Assembly meeting by phone. That is a bit of an odd experience. While "attending" the meeting I am also on the internet and connected to our Assembly agenda and minutes page so I have all the supporting documents. But not being there in person is so different. Yes, I still vote and my vote still counts, but it is hard to feel really a part of it all.
We took another step forward on the recycling program. We had approved a general concept last year and authorized the manager to go forward with planning. Yesterday's article in the Empire annoyed me a abit with its headline that the Mayor proposes curbside recycling. The Mayor didn't do it-- the whole Assembly approved it last year. Ah well, the main point is that it happens. When we have surveyed the citizens of Juneau in last year's Budget Survey they said (page 15) that recycling and solid waste management was close to their top priority. Despite that, there are Assembly members who do not see it as that important and just focus on what it will cost. Cost is important-- but this is also a priority for Juneau citizens in our general quality of life. We need to move forward.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Budget and tax mill rate
We passed the budget and tax mill rate on Monday. I want to reflect just a bit on our property tax rate. The Assembly voted to keep it the same as last year. But some Assembly members want to reduce it. Now, everybody wants to pay fewer taxes-- or no taxes at all-- but you can't reduce city revenue without an impact. Cutting taxes means cutting services. It means cutting back on libraries, parks, education, ice skating, swimming, law enforcement and all the other city services. There is a vision of government put forward by some that believes we should have no more than police, fire, roads and sewers. I do not hold that view. I believe Juneau wants to maintain and increase its quality of life. We want to make Juneau a better place to live -- and that means having youth activities, maintained trails, sports programs, and good schools.
Every two years the Assembly, assisted by the League of Women Voters, surveys Juneau residents on their attitudes about city services and spending. We have done these "Budget Surveys" since 1991, and I encourage you to look at them. These surveys give us the best idea of what the broad cross section of Juneau citizens think about our level and quality of government. Mostly people say they like city services at about the level they are now -- but this past year many called for increasing spending on youth activities and recreation! People in Juneau want a good quality of life, and that is what I support. Cutting back on the quality of life by reducing city amenities and services will lead to the decline of our great city and I oppose that.
Every two years the Assembly, assisted by the League of Women Voters, surveys Juneau residents on their attitudes about city services and spending. We have done these "Budget Surveys" since 1991, and I encourage you to look at them. These surveys give us the best idea of what the broad cross section of Juneau citizens think about our level and quality of government. Mostly people say they like city services at about the level they are now -- but this past year many called for increasing spending on youth activities and recreation! People in Juneau want a good quality of life, and that is what I support. Cutting back on the quality of life by reducing city amenities and services will lead to the decline of our great city and I oppose that.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Regular Assembly Meeting
Tonight at 7pm is our regular Assembly Meeting. Regular meetings are broadcast on KTOO radio. At 6pm is a meeting of the Human Resources Committee (I'm not on that). One of their main jobs is to appoint citizen volunteers to a wide variety of boards and advisory committees There are always openings in various committees and it is a good way to get introduced to the city process and issues.
It's always hard to predict how long Assembly meetings will go. It seems like a couple hours is normal, but they can go longer if there are controversial issues, and you never know when they will pop up. There are a couple big, but regular, issues on tonight's agenda. The first is approval of this year's property tax levels-- or the mill levy. A mill is 1% of property value. The proposed rate is 10.37 mills, which is the same as last year. So that is $1,037 of tax for every $100,000 of property value.
Another ordinance is the main budget ordinance for 2008-09. The Assembly has been meeting as a Finance committee for several months going over the budget. At our last meeting we finalized it and recommended it to the Assembly. The proposed budget is on the city web site- and the final one will be up there after it has passed.
The final big item is passage of the capital projects list-- or CIP. I think it is unchanged from the initial CIP proposal.
It's always hard to predict how long Assembly meetings will go. It seems like a couple hours is normal, but they can go longer if there are controversial issues, and you never know when they will pop up. There are a couple big, but regular, issues on tonight's agenda. The first is approval of this year's property tax levels-- or the mill levy. A mill is 1% of property value. The proposed rate is 10.37 mills, which is the same as last year. So that is $1,037 of tax for every $100,000 of property value.
Another ordinance is the main budget ordinance for 2008-09. The Assembly has been meeting as a Finance committee for several months going over the budget. At our last meeting we finalized it and recommended it to the Assembly. The proposed budget is on the city web site- and the final one will be up there after it has passed.
The final big item is passage of the capital projects list-- or CIP. I think it is unchanged from the initial CIP proposal.
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