Assembly Diary

Well, you know that we have budget issues. We are short 2-3 million for next year’s budget. The Manager had asked the main government employees union to forego their negotiated wage increases for 12 months. Friday 1/15 the membership voted against accepting that contract revision. The Manager has said he will now have to lay off employees. The reality is that we have to find cuts of 2-3 million somewhere. (Foregoing the wage increase would have saved 1.2 million).

There are a number of political pressures that this stimulates. The Manager told the union prior to the request that if they refused, he would have to layoff employees. The Manager raised the ante in the negotiations, but the union called him. He is likely to feel he has to follow through and not look for other places to balance the budget since he made that threat. The Assembly can simply allow the Manager to do what he decides, or it can give instructions. Some- maybe a majority- on the Assembly feel we should leave “management” decisions to the Manager. That is another way to dodge making hard decisions. I believe the Assembly should provide guidance to the manager and I will say so tonight (1/18) at our special meeting.

The 1/18 Special Meeting is with the School Board. The School Board will want to preserve their funding. They may propose to put one or more school projects on the fall ballot as bond issues. The School District has not been subject to the same budget restrictions as all other areas of the city budget. They have not had their funding reduced at all. I have proposed that they share the burden proportionately. However, others on the Assembly do not want us to touch school funding. I have had numerous questions over the years about the school district’s budget management. As an example - last week we heard from city auditors that the school district essentially has a 7 million dollar capital project – dare I use the phrase?—slush fund. Old projects have not been closed and any money they did not spend has been dumped into this fund.

Another budget issue where I was the one person minority was the biannual citizen budget survey that has been carried out regularly for 20 years. http://www.juneau.org/assembly/Budget_Surveys/index.php The Assembly voted 8-1 to cancel the survey for this year. Some said we “couldn’t “afford it.” Others said “we have no choices, so why ask citizens.” This is total nonsense. In a year where we have to make significant decisions on where to cut and where to spend YOUR money– we say we don’t need citizen input. I am extremely disappointed that my colleagues don’t see this as essential.

Short Notes The U.S. Navy proposes to conduct training exercises in Alaskan waters. Some are concerned with the impact on marine mammals. Here is the general link to the Navy’s site http://www.gulfofalaskanavyeis.com/ which includes links for comments—which must be received by January 25th.

The State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has a new amendment to their STIP (Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan) which is their plan for how to spend transportation dollars. Public comments must be submitted by February 1 http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwdplng/cip_stip/index.shtml

Reminder that Juneau’s Legislative Reception is Wednesday 1/20 from 5-6:30 at Centennial Hall. Everyone is invited. Come welcome Alaska’s legislators and staff to the Capital City. Governor Parnell’s State of the State message will be broadcast on public radio and television Wednesday evening—tentatively 7pm.

Next Regular Assembly meeting is Monday January 25th at 7pm – broadcast on KTOO.