After several committee meetings and hours of discussion, it doesn’t seem like Haines Borough Assembly members will be proposing many changes to interim manager Brad Ryan’s draft $12 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Assembly members have mainly used the hours-long sessions as venues for sounding off on previously stated opinions, asking questions of department heads and making vague comments about what they would like to see included or removed.
The group introduced the budget at last week’s assembly meeting. No amendments were made.
At Tuesday’s final committee-of-the-whole budget meeting, assembly member Margaret Friedenauer became frustrated with members’ failure to voice their specific intentions.
“I feel awkward leaving the meeting like this. I don’t know what to do,” Friedenauer said. “I feel like we’re not discussing the budget.”
Friedenauer said she would not be putting forth amendments to add a police officer position or additional assessment department staff – as had been discussed at previous meetings – and that she would support keeping the community chest funding at its current $32,500 level.
The one amendment she will likely bring, Friedenauer said, is to add funds for staff support of volunteer boards and committees.
“If we want to have more support for our boards and committees, we need to set aside some funds for that. That may be a small budget amendment I’ll work up with (interim manager Ryan) and (chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart) and I’ll present that at the next hearing,” she said.
Taking the lead from Friedenauer, assembly member Diana Lapham chimed in to say she would like to see funds taken from the community chest and put toward assembly training that focuses on “protocol, process, respect and working together as a team.”
“I know (nonprofits) are important. I’ve worked on many nonprofits, so I get how important they are. But we also have to remain solvent for this community and the services we provide, and our assembly is in some need of training. So I’d like to see some of that money come out of the community chest for training for the assembly,” Lapham said, though she didn’t go as far to say she would be making an amendment to move those funds.
The assembly will hold the budget’s first public hearing Tuesday.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, the group focused primarily on economic development and tourism. Assembly member Tresham Gregg asked tourism director Leslie Ross for an explanation of some of the changes she has made in the department’s advertising strategy.
Ross said she decided to drop some of the print advertising the department has been buying for at least the past decade, or at least spending less. For example, she dropped the back page ad Haines has held in the Milepost road guide for decades.
“To be the person that finally does it because we’ve had it for years was a big decision. But I polled a lot of businesses that are very dependent on rubber tire traffic, and had support in it. It’s a $15,000 ad and that money can get us a lot in other places,” Ross said.
An ad for Haines is now on the back page of Road Trip, a free publication put out by Yukon Press.
“I’ve invested a lot more money in regional advertising with Yukon, more than we have in the past. As far as web-based marketing, I am waiting for our audit to finish but I see very significant changes in that,” Ross said.