Last Friday, Oct. 13, the Assembly held its first work session on the mayor’s proposed budget. We covered 17 departments.
My conclusion: This budget is, in part, based on fantastical thinking. Here are three examples: 1. The mayor claims that his budget increases snowplowing by $1.5 million. What the mayor’s budget does is zero out the Assembly’s $1 million increase and increases the snowplowing budget by $1.5 million, the net effect being a $500,000 increase.
2. The mayor’s budget is riddled with the phrase “savings due to vacant positions.” One department brought this issue into reality. The library fully plans on filling six vacancies next year. Awkwardly, the municipal manager made it clear that the library would not fill those vacancies because of this march toward achieving “savings.”
3. The administration had not budgeted appropriately for the Anchorage Safety Patrol contract.
The budget keeps the status quo $2 million, when we know that the real number is closer to $5.6 million.
In the end, the Assembly will have to step in and, as the ADN editorial board suggested, be the adults in the room and make the tough decisions that the administration refused to make when building their fantastical budget.
— Felix Rivera
Assembly member, District 4 (Midtown)
Anchorage
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