Assembly getting a wealth of feedback about budget cost-cutting proposals
- Mark Sabbatini
- 13 hours ago
- 9 min read
Residents get another chance Wednesday to weigh in on proposals to close pools and other recreational facilities, reduce grants, and determine the future of Eaglecrest Ski Area
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
An online petition is seeking to keep Juneau’s public pools open. Eaglecrest Ski Area is floating a "bare minimum" operations plan that would cut 44% of its staff — and says a "not viable" cut of 56% will occur if city leaders don’t provide additional funds. And people providing services for residents ranging from infants to seniors are pleading not to have their funding cut.
Talk of such cuts has been happening for the past several months. The reality of which might occur will be decided during the next several weeks.
"Obivously we knew there would be a day where these things were going to end up out there on the table in terms of the things that we are in a position right now to have to consider," Christine Woll, chair of the Juneau Assembly’s Finance Committee, said at the beginning of a meeting last Wednesday when a list of dozens of possible service reductions were on the agenda. "And so I know we've gotten lots of emails, as we expected, because these are pretty startling to see. But you can't look at our finances and not have to start discussing some of these things."
Key questions are which cuts will actually occur, what fees or other new revenues might be imposed to help cover costs, and how much city leaders might tap into savings accounts to cover short-term gaps while pondering longer-range solutions for Juneau’s fiscal stability.
Assembly members at last Wednesday’s Finance Committee meeting mostly asked city staff for more information about some of the most notable items, such as closing the Dimond Park Field House, Juneau-Douglas City Museum, Mount Jumbo building, and either the Augustus Brown Swimming Pool or Dimond Park Aquatic Center. Other possible cost cuts included turning over local prosecution of crimes to the state — which means not all cases might get handled — a four-day workweek for city staff and reducing community grants.
Juneau residents will get another chance at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to voice opinions about the municipal budget — and its many potential cuts, fees and other line items — for the fiscal year that starts July 1. A final public input session on the budget is scheduled June 8 — at which point most of the specific cuts are likely to be in draft form since the Assembly is required to pass a budget by June 15.
City leaders have been stating since last summer that significant budget cuts were likely if voters passed two ballot measures reducing property and sales taxes. Both measures passed and city finance officials estimate the revenue loss will be about $12 million.
Next year’s financial gap is actually larger on paper since the proposed budget entering Wednesday’s meeting includes about $551 million in spending and $528 million in revenue. The proposed budget thus uses about $23.7 million from city fund balance accounts to cover the deficit (which the city has in the bank, but couldn’t continue to pay out annually to cover future deficits).
Of the total proposed spending, $141 million is for municipal government operations, which will be a primary place Assembly members look to impose cuts and adjustments related to the $12 million in lost tax revenue. Among the other major budget components are Bartlett Regional Hospital, the Juneau School District and capital improvement projects.
Plenty of reactions already to possible cuts
Just the mention by one or more Assembly members of possible cuts — whether closing facilities or a hypothetical 30% cut in community grants — resulted in a flurry of responses by individuals and organizations during the past several weeks.
Proposals to close one of the pools resulted in a petition being posted online April 21 that as of midday April 28 had more than 1,100 signatures.
"In a community like Juneau, where long winters, challenging weather, and already limited indoor options affect both physical and mental health, our pools are essential, not optional," the petition states. "They provide critical access to exercise, routine, and social connection for residents of all ages."
More direct feedback to city leaders came from a large number of people during a regular Assembly meeting April 6 and a designated Assembly "budget listening session" April 15 — and Assembly members say they’re also getting lots of emails and other comments.
Social service agencies were particularly prominent at the April 6 meeting, with representatives from the Southeast Alaska Food Bank, Alaska Aids Assistance Association, NAMI Juneau, AWARE, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska, Juneau Community Foundation, Southeast Alaska Independent Living, Juneau Housing First and Alaska Legal Services among those asking the Assembly not to reduce support.
Selina Finley, chair of the food bank’s board, said during testimony that her agency is among the many struggling with larger issues such as higher food and fuel prices, and cuts in federal programs. She said the local costs if more people are food insecure aren’t worth whatever savings the Assembly might achieve through a cut in grant funding.
"These investments make an immediate impact on our community, strengthening community members and allowing our organizations to bridge gaps in the short term and better advocate for long-term solutions," she said.
A similar plea at that meeting was made by Mike Helms, executive director for Gastineau Human Services, which provides counseling and recovery services for addiction and behavioral health issues.
"One of our most recent successes with Juneau Community Foundation money is through the school backpack program," he said. "We provide kids that are food insecure with food for their weekends. It's about six items of fairly decent nutrition — the money can't buy perfect foods — but we've given out over 20,000 bags so far this school year. With the cuts to that budget of 30% it won't be sustainable and the children of Juneau will go hungry on their weekend."
Testimony at the April 15 meeting focused heavily on recreational facilities, with people seeking continuing support for the city’s softball and baseball fields, Treadwell Arena and its hockey programs, the Jensen-Olson Arboretum, and the Dimond Park Field House and its indoor soccer program.
Each of those people was asked, in slightly different wording each time, a reality check question by Assembly Member Alicia Hughes Skandis.
"Do you have any other areas of the budget you would suggest we cut, or any other areas of revenue that you would suggest?" was how she phrased it to Dom Pannone, president of the Juneau Adult Hockey Association.
"My goal here is to advocate for our organization and members, and to make sure that you understand what is important when you're looking at what to cut," Pannone replied. "We would certainly entertain a public-private partnership. I know the other user groups — the youth user group, the skate club — we all have resources, time and dedication. So some sort of deal where we contribute to operations, I think everybody's open to that."
Suggesting cuts to others’ programs didn’t come easy for some people, including Frank Scarabino, another advocate for continued support of the ice rink.
"As far as cutting things I don't even want to begin to think about that," he said. "There's so much…everything is desperately needed. I guess I looked at the taxes and I'm going ‘OK, that's wonderful — nobody wants to pay taxes, but none of this is free.’"
Facing the mountainous problems at Eaglecrest
City leaders are facing two major questions about the ski area: How to handle the impending cancellation of the gondola agreement — which will cost the city roughly $9 million — and what kind of operations are they willing to support for the coming year as the resort seeks to adjust its long-term plans.
The Assembly on Wednesday is scheduled to take another formal step toward cancelling its agreement with Goldbelt Inc., which provided $10 million for installation and other costs related to a used gondola intended to open at Eaglecrest by May 2028. However, the project was put on hold earlier this year due to a preliminary estimated installation cost of $27 million, far exceeding expectations and what city leaders said was affordable.
Terminating the agreement with Goldbelt will mean paying the Alaska Native corporation about $12.2 million including interest, but the actual repayment cost to the city is less since not all of the funding provided by the company was spent.
Still to be resolved is if a new agreement can be reached between the city and Goldbelt that might allow the city to recover some or all of the repayment cost. City and Eaglecrest officials have suggested a modified agreement could include giving the company a higher share of profits, year-round control of operations at the city-owned ski resort and/or a transfer of city-owned land for tourism facilities where the company operates such as the Goldbelt Tram.
Meanwhile, the Assembly has to determine what kind of budget to provide Eaglecrest for next year’s ski season. The resort has received subsidies for many years to cover operating losses, but Assembly members in recent years have indicated that support was based on assurances the gondola would result in profitable year-round operations.
As a result, Eaglecrest’s board of directors on Monday approved presenting two new budget plans with drastic cutbacks in operations to Assembly members at Wednesday’s budget meeting. But the ski area’s board members and administrative leaders agreed they don’t want the Assembly to actually approve either proposal — rather, the hope is members will sympathize with a plea for a bit more breathing room while a new future plan for Eaglecrest is determined.
The first plan assumes the Assembly will provide a $930,000 subsidy next year to match similar funding, but won’t cover any shortfall beyond that — which in the initial budget released April 1 was nearly $2.7 million in a total budget of $5.7 million.
Without that deficit coverage Eaglecrest’s projected budget next year would be about $3.5 million, according to a presentation to the ski area’s board. That would result in a 56% staff reduction, fewer operating days, no food or beverage service, no funds for things such as training or maintenance, and other cutbacks officials say would keep Eaglecrest from reaching minimal safety and other standards necessary for operation.
"We can't run Eaglecrest on that scenario," Brandon Cullum, the board’s president, said during the meeting. "If we could get the doors open we can't keep them open. It's questionable whether we could even get the doors open."
The second plan, he said, indicates the absolute minimum Eaglecrest could operate with short-term, which would involve the Assembly providing $1.7 million rather than $930,000 in funds — for a total budget of about $4.3 million. Under that scenario Eaglecrest would cut staff 44%, and be able to meet "absolute minimum requirements" for operations, but would eliminate extras such as concessions unless a vendor provided them.
"We still have no travel training or certifications, and we see a reduction to retail and repair services, which are super important to keep people on mountains since there's no other place in town where you can get downhill skis serviced," Cullum said.
Furthermore, such a plan is high-risk and unsustainable because it doesn’t allow for unexpected circumstances and expenses, said Jim Calvin, another board member.
Assembly members, as part of their broader discussion about the ski area Wednesday, are scheduled to consider a resolution that would set aside up to $2.3 million during the coming fiscal year to cover shortfalls at Eaglecrest.
A lower mill rate, renewing the 3% sales tax and other budget considerations
The Assembly will also be giving attention to major revenue matters during the coming weeks.
Among the items the public will be invited to comment about Wednesday is the mill rate for next year, which currently is proposed at 9.92 mills, a cut of 0.32 mills from the current year. Half of the reduction is due to voters last fall capping property taxes at 9 mills, not including debt service payments. The other half is because debt service is expected to be 0.92 mills next year compared to 1.08 this year.
Not on Wednesday’s agenda, but of high importance is the scheduled renewal this fall of a 3% temporary sales tax voters have approved every five years for decades. Juneau also has a 1% permanent sales tax and another temporary tax of 1%, with the 5% total tax bringing in more than $70 million in revenue annually.
The 3% tax expires June 30, 2027, so it won’t impact the coming year’s budget — but if voters fail to renew it this fall it could cost the city more than $40 million next year, a far greater hole to plug than the current $12 million gap.
Also being considered for the fall municipal election ballot are bonds for school and utility projects, which were shelved by the Assembly last year due to the debate over the tax-related ballot propositions.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
