In the wake of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget that would slash about $1.7 million in state funding to the borough, assembly member Brenda Josephson has suggested placing a hiring freeze on “non-essential positions” until the Haines Borough Assembly finalizes its 2020 budget.
She defined non-essential positions as jobs outside of the school district, public works, or public safety, and not including seasonal positions.
A proposed freeze would target two vacant part-time jobs advertised by the Haines Borough, an education coordinator and a collections coordinator at the Haines Sheldon Museum.
“The hiring freeze will help prevent worker displacement of current staff if departments are reorganized, consolidated or downsized during the FY20 budget process,” Josephson said.
In a meeting last week with borough manager Debra Schnabel to discuss budget priorities amid substantial cuts, assembly members Heather Lende and Will Prisciandaro favored asking voters to reconsider a 10-mil cap on property tax approved narrowly in 2003. The townsite is currently taxed at 9.49 mils.
Josephson said if the assembly plans to raise taxes, they must also make cuts.
On Thursday, Josephson emailed the borough clerk asking that a proposed hiring freeze be put on the assembly’s agenda for their next meeting.
“Please understand the optics of this situation to the public,” Josephson wrote in an email to staff. “When I am stopped in the post office and the grocery store and asked why the borough is advertising new positions at the same time that the borough manager is promoting removing the millage cap, I am at a loss at what to say to the public.”
Last year, the borough allocated $252,858 to the museum, of which $212,058 was spent on personnel costs, but that didn’t cover all employee fees. The museum has paid for excess payroll for the past six years, museum director Helen Alten said, using grant money and non-resident admission funds.
In 2019, the museum reimbursed the borough an additional $27,040 for personnel costs using such revenue. Alten expects that number to go up in next year’s budget, which will call for additional grant money.
“We are allocated a specific amount for personnel by the borough, but code gives the museum board discretion in how it is used for staff,” Alten said in response to Josephson’s email.
The open museum positions are each 20 hours a week and offer benefits. Alten said that the education position is half-funded in the budget at 585 hours a week and the rest of the salary is paid for through fees generated by summer and after-school museum-run camps. Admission fees and grant funding paid for 100 percent of the collections coordinator position, she said.
Josephson’s proposed motion states, “Temporary positions funded by grants with an approved grant award and commitment from the granting organization may be advertised and hired as ‘temporary’ positions.”
“We’re not going to hire anyone until we see what the assembly decides,” museum board president Kelleen Adams told the CVN this week.
She said that, between the two, the collections position would take top priority if the museum board had to choose.
“They are the ones bringing in and archiving all of the museum’s (artifacts),” she said.
Adams said that unsecured grant money will likely fund the collections position, but the museum has the ability to shift funding priorities if need be.
“If the museum is able to fund these positions through sources of its own then it would not affect the borough, but would be an asset to the community,” she said.
Haines Borough appropriations to the museum have increased by an average of 1.7% annually over the past 16 years, according to finance director Jila Stuart.
“At the same period of time that (the Haines Sheldon Museum) is getting grants, the borough’s funding has increased, not decreased,” Josephson said. “If we had the income, I’d say great. But we don’t have the economic base to support it.”
Josephson proposed that the borough divest of the museum during a committee-of-the-whole meeting earlier this month. She’ll propose the motion to enact a hiring freeze to the borough assembly at its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 26 at 6:30 pm.