Haines Borough interim manager Brad Ryan last week released his $12.3 million draft budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes cutting the long-vacant community and economic development director position and reinstituting an executive assistant to the manager.

Ryan referred to the document as “status quo” in many ways: most department budgets stayed flat or increased slightly (largely due to salary step increases), community chest money for nonprofits stayed at $32,500, and funding for a state lobbyist remained.

The most major administrative change Ryan proposed was eliminating the community and economic development director position and replacing it with an executive assistant to the manager – that’s essentially the opposite of what happened in 2014 when interim manager Julie Cozzi eliminated the executive assistant and instituted a community and economic development director.

The executive assistant would work half-time for public facilities and half-time for the manager, moving the facilities work away from the deputy clerk, whose hours would be cut in half.

Ryan said he believes this change will better serve the town’s economic development by placing the issue in the hands of the manager and assistant. “Both the manager and assistant should constantly be working to improve the economic status of Haines by encouraging new sustainable industry, pursuing grants, and working with state and federal government,” Ryan said.

Ryan is proposing no changes to the townsite service area mil rate and very minor – if any – increases outside of the townsite. The exception is the Eagle Vista Road Maintenance Service Area, which is increasing from 10.97 to 12.29 mills because of a funding request from the area’s road maintenance board.

Other budget highlights include expanding the solid and hazardous waste disposal program by one-and-a-half days due to its increasing success and popularity, adding a seasonal part-time EMT position and budgeting revenue collected from the motor vehicle registration tax to collect and dispose of approximately 25 derelict vehicles.

Ryan has also budgeted the maximum allowable transfer – $293,000 – from the Permanent Fund earnings to the area wide general fund.

The borough is expecting to take in about $395,000 less than the $12.3 million it plans to spend, or about $11.9 million. The difference will be made up using fund balances and unanticipated revenues or savings from last year.

“Despite a 3 percent reduction in revenue, I have allowed an increase in expenses of approximately $170,000 for the area wide general fund due to the fact that we had surplus funds of $336,000 in FY16 and a large fund balance. Including the $170,000 dip into the fund balance, $2.6 million will remain and constitute 54 percent of the total operating budget,” Ryan said.

Several large unknowns tied up in the Alaska Legislature could potentially negatively impact the borough finances, specifically community revenue sharing and the amount the borough will be forced to bear for the PERS and TRS retirement programs.

Ryan didn’t have an estimate on how changes for PERS and TRS contributions would add to the borough’s expenses, and chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart was out of the office this week.

Ryan’s release of the draft budget is only the beginning of months of digging into the document, and some assembly members have already started forming questions and ideas for additions and deletions.

Assembly member George Campbell, for example, said he will fight to remove the $32,500 of community chest money for local nonprofits. Campbell reiterated his belief that he would rather see money going toward the Lutak Dock and Wastewater Treatment Plant than nonprofits.

“Until we get that stuff done, (nonprofits) are way down the list,” he said.

Campbell would also like to sell the Mosquito Lake School and get those expenses off the books, and reduce other services to cut costs. “I think we need to start cutting positions at the borough, and I think the answer here is to have the borough doing less,” he said.

Assembly member Margaret Friedenauer said she would like to see the nonprofit funding process revamped, instead of just setting aside an arbitrary amount of money each year for applicants to fight over.

“I liked the idea once brought up about committing a percentage of the general fund to nonprofit requests. That would reflect our ability to commit these funds based on the financial climate,” she said.

Friedenauer’s biggest concern, though, is the outcome of this legislative session. “My biggest issue with the budget right now is the uncertainty of state funding and programs to local communities – things like revenue sharing, community jails money and the discussion happening about PERS/TRS. Those are going to be huge.”

Assembly member Ron Jackson said he was disappointed to see the state lobbyist position funded in the draft budget. “I have seen no evidence that (lobbyist Bill Thomas’s) presence in Juneau has benefited us at all,” Jackson said.

However, Jackson said he did appreciate Ryan’s willingness to use money from the economic development fund to support industries besides tourism. About $90,000 from that fund is budgeted to be used to upgrade the fuel dock’s electrical system ($15,000) and provide a local match for the Department of Fish and Game’s grant for a new boat launch ramp at the Small Boat Harbor.

Ryan also proposes to transfer $31,000 of raw fish tax into the harbor fund, and $44,000 from the Capital Improvement Projects fund to install protective anodes on the existing steel piles.

Assembly member Tresham Gregg said he was “not thrilled” to see $14,000 taken from the tourism and economic development fund and put into the Port Chilkoot Dock fund due to the cruise ship dock fee waiver incentive program that was instituted this year.

Assembly members Mike Case and Diana Lapham did not respond to requests for comment on the draft budget.

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