Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz wants to use leftover money from last year's budget by increasing spending on services for homeless people, according to budget revision documents submitted this week.
The documents also show how the city plans to add marijuana tax money for two regulation enforcement positions and a public health education campaign targeting marijuana use.
Every April, the mayor and the Assembly have a chance to recast the previously adopted budget and adjust spending. Last month, Berkowitz announced a projected $14 million surplus, mostly a result of spending cuts and higher-than-expected revenues.
Berkowitz is now asking the Assembly to increase the city's current $481 million 2016 budget by about $7.4 million. The proposed revisions were introduced at Tuesday's Assembly meeting.
The mayor's proposals include giving $425,000 to local agencies working on issues related to homelessness. His administration has hired a homelessness coordinator and has made reducing homelessness one of its central priorities.
Other proposed spending changes include:
- One-time funding of $1.1 million for the city clerks office to switch the city to a vote-by-mail election. The Assembly formally endorsed the shift last month.
- $250,000 to the city legal department to cover costs associated with ongoing lawsuits.
- $83,000 to the city managers office to find, Berkowitz said, efficiencies and shared services with state, federal, military and nonprofit entities.
The Berkowitz administration is also making several funding requests for the city information technology department for maintenance and software upgrade projects and for two new positions.
The revised budget calls for a nearly 7 percent increase in property taxes, and taxes to the maximum limit allowed under city charter. That limit decreased slightly with the passage of Proposition 8 on the April city ballot, said city budget director Lance Wilber.
"If accepted, this proposal will ensure the (city and school district) have maximum flexibility in the future," Wilber wrote in an email.
Marijuana enforcement
In its budget revisions, the Berkowitz administration is giving the most detailed glimpse to date of how the city expects to enforce its new commercial marijuana regulations.
Berkowitz said the city is estimating costs of about $580,000 to regulate marijuana locally. His budget revisions call for a new tax enforcement officer and a new health inspector for pot shops.
He is also asking for a one-time $138,461 request from the Anchorage Police Department to pay for "course materials and officer overtime" associated with a three-day training course to "evaluate suspected drug impairment," the budget documents say.
A $100,000 allocation for a public health education campaign related to marijuana is also being recommended for the city health department's budget.
The money would come not from taxpayers or the city's budget surplus, but from the city's new marijuana sales tax, which voters approved on April 5. The city treasury department has estimated that the 5 percent tax could bring in between $400,000 and $900,000 in its first year, according to Wilber, the city budget director.
State funding uncertain
The remainder of the city's budget surplus should be left in savings until the state Legislature finishes its work on the budget, Berkowitz said in a phone interview.
He pointed to a bill moving through the Legislature that would slash state revenue sharing money to Anchorage from $9.2 million to about $5 million for the upcoming year.
"What we're most concerned about is cost shifting coming out of the Legislature," Berkowitz said. "And we need to have the ability to withstand it."
If revenue sharing declines as expected, the city will make up the gap through savings, Berkowitz said.
Berkowitz also said the Legislature's action will determine whether the city can pay property tax rebate.
The Anchorage Assembly will take up Berkowitz's proposals April 26 when the body will approve a revised budget and set the tax rate.
As well as deciding whether to accept the mayor's proposals, Assembly members typically introduce their own proposals.