Wednesday morning, November 25, I met with a couple colleagues and OMB Director Cheryl Frasca to prepare an “S” version of the budget, something I mentioned in my previous post. I wouldn’t call it perfect, but here’s how it differs from the mayor’s original plan:
Transportation:
Community grants:
Children’s programs (targeted for those who need before & after school care while their parents work):
I’m not sure anyone would bless this proposal with their full endorsement but it appears to have at least tacit approval from the administration, in part because $12.5 million in debt refunding (bond refinance) is included. To answer one question posed following my last post, that “refunding” would obviate the need to collect those dollars from property taxpayers in 2010 but we would pay some additional interest, somewhere north of $2 million during the remaining life of the bonds. Interestingly, it appears about 80% of the bonds slated for “refunding” are Anchorage Road & Drainage Service Area bonds, meaning only property owners within that service area – which includes most of the Anchorage Bowl – would be affected by that portion of this proposal. (Most of the Hillside and virtually all of Chugiak/Eagle River are in different Road Service Areas.) If we were to follow this course of action the Assembly would still need to pass a separate ordinance authorizing the administration to move forward, and we wouldn’t commit to the additional $10 million in “refunding” the mayor has proposed for 2011- that conversation would wait until some time next winter.
Readers who’ve followed previous posts will no doubt notice a lack of additional resources for libraries. Two things on that front – first, there may be some ML&P grant dollars that help on the materials side. Second, expanding hours at branch libraries could be addressed at our first quarter budget revisions this spring and will likely spring from discussions between the administration and AMEA, which represents most library employees, on how we can expand the use of volunteers to augment the professional staff.
That’s where we are today, we’ll see how folks like it – or not – at our special meeting on Monday, November 30.
Regards,
Patrick
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It seems a much better proposal than the Mayor’s slash and trash of services.
Comment: donald hennessey – 27. November 2009 @ 10:39 pm
As I understood it, both Mt. View and Muldoon B&G Clubs were to be cut $50K each. Under this proposal are they only cut 24,500 each or is it another formula?
Thank you, and keep that collaborative spirit!
Comment: DonnListon – 28. November 2009 @ 8:47 pm
Mayor Sullivan is setting the stage to implement a sales tax.
Comment: Laura – 29. November 2009 @ 12:35 am
No, Mayor Sullivan is not setting that stage. That stage was set by the boy wonder mayor who manipulated the enterprise funds to override the voter-initiative cap on taxing private property. Mark Begich may have done more than any of those nasty old conservatives could have done to convinced a majority of property owners that they shouldn’t have to bear the full burdon of an ASD that is out of control, and a bunch of Assembly members who admit they don’t have the expertise to figure out the budget,
Mayor Sullivan recognizes there are a lot of people who use Anchorage services but contribute little or nothing to supporting those services. So, if you want to blame somebody for making this inequity obvious to those who own property–and currently pay the lion’s share of municipal services–you need to go to the previous administration.
Remember the mayor who is now a U.S. Senator and was the 60th vote for bringing a 2000+ page monstrosity National Health Care bill to the floor of the Senate to debate putting everyone on Medicare, start charging taxpayers as soon as it is passed, but not have it take effect for four years. He’s the guy who helped Anchorage property owners start asking why they are the only one paying for a lot of services they don’t need or want. Go figure.
Comment: donnliston – 30. November 2009 @ 4:11 pm
I’d bet my 2010 property tax savings (hypothetically speaking) that services/payments being cut/deferred in 2010 and 2011 will be rebuilt by a sales tax, after the tax cap and city services are severely reduced by 2013.
This isn’t a conservative/liberal issue, it’s a civic issue. The taxpayers of my childhood -conservative farmers- built and maintained a library that allowed me, as a child, to realize that poverty and poor parenting didn’t need to determine the outcome my life. I hope they were proud and not bitter about the gift they gave me.
Sorry to use your space, Mr. Flynn. I wanted nothing more than to testify at the public hearing this evening, but couldn’t make it.
Comment: Laura – 30. November 2009 @ 11:26 pm
I enjoyed the old downtown library, too. On the side of it was written: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” My two siblings and I didn’t know if we were in poverty, although we lived in Mt View, but we did know that our dad was always away working on the White Alice System and our step mother was a poor babysitter.
What “Conservative Farmers” are you talking about, the Kerttulas? I didn’t realize there were farms in Anchorage back then. I knew Anchorage pretty well, too. I have always thought it novel that Anchorage has no sales tax, and my dad appreciated that fact because his goal was to get the hell out of Alaska as soon as he made enough money…
It is naive to say this current financial crisis is not a liberal/conservative issue. As more revelations come forth about how our previous liberal mayor did not disclose information he knew about the city’s financial situation–while pushing to approve 5-year sweetheart deals for his union supporters–the civics lesson will be clear: Liberal politicians like to spend other people’s money for more government, conservatives cherish freedom and less government.
If you don’t like the fact we are in a financial crisis, maybe you should write your senator about it.
Comment: donnliston – 01. December 2009 @ 9:16 am
Donn, you don’t have a clue to the 5 year sweetheart deals. Are those the ones who are based on a 5 year CPI average? Wow, that’s really making them rich!
The budget crisis is pegged squarely on the national economy – investment funds and bed tax revenues.
Not taxing to the cap is as damaging as Begich using utility enterprise funds to artificially inflate it.
Comment: Eric – 02. December 2009 @ 11:06 am
How often in the past have they negotiated and agreed on 5-year contracts? Are raises in those contracts only CPI? I don’t think so. Most collective bargaining agreements are negotiated on a three-year cycle, and the only reason Begich agreed to those contracts was because he needed union support for his bid to run against Stevens. But the fact the national economy was going into a decline, and Begich was warned directly of the possible consequences of signing those contracts, make it all the more despicable. Even liberal assembly members who did not have the facts need to be distancing themselves from this travesty.
Not taxing to the cap is a demonstration by Mayor Sullivan that he understands that property owners are fed up with budgets that run up to the cap, or are manipulated over the cap, and it’s time to restore some balance to the equation. If that means cutting expenses, or finding other sources of income, then so be it.
Comment: DonnListon – 02. December 2009 @ 5:38 pm
I guess if anything good comes out of budget cuts, it is that it snapped me out of momming and working and made me think about our community again. Donn- I appreciate your insight and civility in response. My library was in Montana- where conservative taxpayers abound! My sweet library.
I wish we could exist without government, except when I need a road to get me to work. And then there was the time I had to call the cops when the neighbors were being broke into and then when our smoke alarm went off, I had to call 911. And then there is the amazing teachers who teach my kids (I tried private school and my son ended up in therapy). I also appreciated a few weeks ago when I was working of some turkey and took my dog around University Lake. Then, there’s the bus that took me to UAA college classes and my first job after college- at the city making $10 per hour! I had to quit because I literally had to start skipping meals to be able to pay bus fare and rent and student loans. (It was the best job I’ve ever had- besides momming that is).
Comment: Laura – 02. December 2009 @ 11:12 pm
Nobody is saying we should not have government–that would be anarchy. Of course we all appreciate government that provides services to make Anchorage the wonderful community that it is. I also appreciate the fact Assemblyman Flynn has provided this forum and is doing an admirable job of showing how difficult current budget choices are, while seeking comments about what constituents feel.
As someone who was a “caretaker” for Mark Begich and his siblings during the summer when he was 7 years old, I have known the family and the tragedy of his father’s untimely death. However, the desire of Alaska Democrats to return a Begich to high elected office does not excuse the way he has betrayed Anchorage taxpayers with his ambitions.
The ultimate result may be a general realization that Anchorage needs a sales tax. And that will be Mark’s political legacy–after he follows in the footsteps of another failed Alaska U.S. Senator, Mike Gravel. Ted Stevens would have never voted for debate of the monstrosity health care bill written behind closed doors, that has squeeked by with Mark’s vote (and will only require 50 votes to pass so some supporters can vote against it and say they were really against it all along).
Comment: donnliston – 03. December 2009 @ 10:02 am
My concern is that there will not be a general realization of a sales tax, but that it will be the only avenue we can turn to after reducing the tax cap until 2013. A shift to include a sales tax will offer better dividends for land investors, and that is good because maybe they will improve the quality of rental structures in town or maybe rent will become more affordable or maybe investors will have a better quality of life because they have more cash in their back pocket. But for everyone else, it will mean potentially being double taxed (renters) and absorbing a greater and non-tax-deductible burden (homeowners).
Comment: Laura – 03. December 2009 @ 11:01 am
I don’t believe in the “double-taxed” myth; if you are a property owner and your property taxes go down, but you have to pay a sales tax, it will likely be cheaper. If you are a renter, you don’t pay taxes and the argument that your taxes are part of the rent payment is specious. Landlords will charge whatever the market will bear and their profit is determined after expenses (including property taxes).
There are a variety of taxes and “user fees” that taxpayers all pay. A sales tax would extract revenue from people who do not live in Anchorage but use local aminities currently being paid for primarily by property owners.
Comment: donnliston – 03. December 2009 @ 11:52 am
Don
Rick Mystrom signed a five year deal on his way out the door with AFD. 1999-2004.
Comment: YT – 06. December 2009 @ 12:45 pm
Sorry, I didn’t know that but it was the exception not a wholesale sell-out to all the employee unions.
Comment: donnliston – 07. December 2009 @ 11:20 am