We are about to begin the annual budget cycle. In another week the Assembly meets as the Finance Committee to examine capital improvement projects (CIPs) for the coming year. We will meet with the School Board on March 23. Then beginning in April we begin weekly Finance meetings on Wednesday nights to hear budget presentations from across the CBJ.
Here is how it works. The City Manager presents the Assembly with a balanced budget. He gets revenue projections from the finance department and then he has to do whatever cutting and trimming is necessary to make the books balance. The Enterprise Boards (Airport, Docks and Harbors, Hospital) also pay for themselves and will present balanced budgets. The School District is funded by a state formula and will present their balanced budget.
But what is going to happen is that each of these entities will probably ask for “more.” The Airport wants to do more improvements on the terminal. The Hospital wants to build a new adolescent behavioral treatment center. Docks and Harbors needs to find money to dredge Douglas Harbor and dispose of mercury contaminants, and they also are interested in buying Fisherman’s Bend. The School District will ask for “more” funding above the cap – for "outside the classroom" activities. They may or may not propose a new school bond issue. The Arts and Humanities Council wants improvements on the Armory building (JAHC). On top of that there will be a string of other groups and organizations asking for funding for this or that good cause.
The problem, of course, is that any extra dollar allocations take away from other programs or borrow (for capital projects). I am concerned that our debt burden has increased enormously over the past decade, primarily because of the string of school projects and the pool. I am very nervous about asking Juneau to fund more debt. The point is, there are no “extra” dollars.
This also is against the backdrop of extreme uncertainty for future revenue from the state or the feds – from whom we receive multiple millions. We are OK for next year – but further out it is really questionable. Ultimately we will have to confront what we want to do if we have to pay for it all locally.
I know, I know – that’s what our job is —to make allocation decisions. But to make somebody happy, somebody else’s ox is going to be gored.
Lots more to come – stay tuned.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Land
I am chair of the Assembly Lands Committee. This year we will update the Borough Land Management Plan, and part of that is our "Land Disposal Plan" - meaning what city land might be sold. For years one of the main cries in Juneau has been “not enough land.” There is truth to that lament. We are surrounded by the Tongass and much of the non federal land in the Borough is wetlands or mountainsides. The shortage of land is said to contribute to our lack of affordable housing. There are some who say the city should sell off its landholdings to the private sector to address the affordable housing issue.
Like everything else, this is not a simple issue. Here are a couple points to consider. There is a considerable amount of private land that is already in the hands of private sector owners who choose not to build because they apparently do not see the profit in it at this point. I have often felt that Hugh Grant is a good weather vane for the market. He owns a lot of land – and he is an active developer. His development off Loop Rd/Keegan Dr – just before the turn to Back Loop has many empty lots, and his land a bit further out Loop Road is undeveloped, as is the land above Fred Myers. Another Developer – Duran – has not built houses on his Vista Del Sol development on Glacier Highway next to Glacier Gardens. There is nothing wrong with that – it is just an indicator that there is not great demand. There is the chunk of land between Kodzoff and Cinema Drive that has remained undeveloped. A planned development of the gravel pit land out at Montana Creek stopped several years back. Totem Enterprises has not been able to find investors willing to invest in North Douglas to create a golf course development. And when the Borough recently tried to sell some its land at Lena Loop – a large number of lots did not sell.
My point is that there is a significant amount land already in private hands and it does not seem that availability of land itself is the solution to the issue of affordable housing. We probably need to contract with one of the low income developers or to work with a land trust that focuses on affordable housing or some other alternative that guarantees that the land is used for lower cost housing.
The Borough does own land in several places that might be able to be developed in this fashion. There is some “Under Thunder” land out Loop Road in the Valley. There is some land above DZ and there is some land on what is called Pederson Hill on the North side of Veterans Highway past Brotherhood Bridge. These areas are next to sewer and water, and close to other city services and transportation routes. Our goal is to find ways to ensure that housing built on those parcels will actually be “affordable” to moderate income families.
These are some of the issues that will frame our discussion as we look at updating our Land Management Plan.
Like everything else, this is not a simple issue. Here are a couple points to consider. There is a considerable amount of private land that is already in the hands of private sector owners who choose not to build because they apparently do not see the profit in it at this point. I have often felt that Hugh Grant is a good weather vane for the market. He owns a lot of land – and he is an active developer. His development off Loop Rd/Keegan Dr – just before the turn to Back Loop has many empty lots, and his land a bit further out Loop Road is undeveloped, as is the land above Fred Myers. Another Developer – Duran – has not built houses on his Vista Del Sol development on Glacier Highway next to Glacier Gardens. There is nothing wrong with that – it is just an indicator that there is not great demand. There is the chunk of land between Kodzoff and Cinema Drive that has remained undeveloped. A planned development of the gravel pit land out at Montana Creek stopped several years back. Totem Enterprises has not been able to find investors willing to invest in North Douglas to create a golf course development. And when the Borough recently tried to sell some its land at Lena Loop – a large number of lots did not sell.
My point is that there is a significant amount land already in private hands and it does not seem that availability of land itself is the solution to the issue of affordable housing. We probably need to contract with one of the low income developers or to work with a land trust that focuses on affordable housing or some other alternative that guarantees that the land is used for lower cost housing.
The Borough does own land in several places that might be able to be developed in this fashion. There is some “Under Thunder” land out Loop Road in the Valley. There is some land above DZ and there is some land on what is called Pederson Hill on the North side of Veterans Highway past Brotherhood Bridge. These areas are next to sewer and water, and close to other city services and transportation routes. Our goal is to find ways to ensure that housing built on those parcels will actually be “affordable” to moderate income families.
These are some of the issues that will frame our discussion as we look at updating our Land Management Plan.
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