The assembly concluded the second of two informal discussions on the proposed borough budget Tuesday. Up next is the first public hearings of budget season, where, ultimately, city leaders will decide how to tax and how to spend in the upcoming year.
Tuesday’s meeting focused on the townsite service area – essentially the city of Haines. Interim manager Alekka Fullerton went line-by-line through the section of the budget, which levies property and sales tax inside the town-area to fund services – mostly police and public works – benefitting that area.
While there was little discussion at Tuesday’s meeting, some changes to the townsite may draw more back and forth come public hearings.
Two of those changes are to how the borough pays for emergency services.
The borough had previously been transferring revenue every year from the areawide fund to the townsite fund, for policing. While townsite taxes py for most of the police budget, that transfer represented a contribution of tax dollars by residents out the road to pay for police response in their areas. That transfer was $135,000 last year, almost 15% of a $936,000 police budget.
Fullerton’s proposed budget does not include this transfer. It does include a proposed increase in the property-tax rate in town which finance director Jila Stuart said is, in part, to increase the share of policing paid for by townsite revenue.
That doesn’t necessarily mean townsite residents are wholly paying out of pocket for the change. Fullerton said axing the transfer prevented an increase to areawide tax rates, which apply to everyone – including townsite residents. And residents beyond the townsite still pay for policing through sales tax, when they spend money in town.
The police funding change also isn’t the only reason townsite taxes are going up, said Fullerton. Last year’s budget included the last chunk of American Rescue Plan funds. With that extra revenue, the borough cut property tax rates for a year in an effort to spend down permanent fund money and give residents a tax break, said Stuart and Fullerton. The borough is also looking at about $300,000 in tax revenue lost to the new senior tax exemption.
In light of that, Fullerton pitched the increased rates as a return to a previous normal. The data lends some support to that, as her proposed rate is what residents paid from 2020 through 2023.
In addition to policing, there was brief mention of changes to ambulance services. Ambulance services are currently no-charge, but that will likely change in the upcoming year, according to a note in Fullerton’s proposed budget. The exact plan for how to begin charging has not been formally discussed yet, but assembly member Cheryl Stickler said Tuesday she supported the plan to charge, but with an exception for residents without insurance.
Coming up next is an opportunity for residents to weigh-in at a public hearing on Tuesday, May 13. There will be a second public hearing on May 27, and a possible third public hearing on June 10. The deadline for adopting the new budget is June 15.