City Manager Rorie Watt called on the Juneau Chamber of Commerce’s weekly luncheon crowd to put a “full-court press” on the state Legislature, not to force a turnover but to pass a sustainable budget.
“If you know a legislator’s kid, and you’re taking them to soccer practice, full-court press their kid, too; don’t be ashamed about it,” Watt said, eliciting laughter from his audience, which filled the Moose Lodge dining room Thursday afternoon.
The reasoning behind Coach Watt’s call for a full-court press is simple: fiscal stability in the Capitol begets fiscal stability in City Hall. And, according to Watt, firm fiscal footing at the city level is important if the local economy is to thrive.
“The budget is the fundamental underpinning of everything the city does. This is our vision document for the year,” Watt said, waving a copy of the city’s budget in the air.
In order for the budget planning process to work as it should, the city has to be able to roughly predict its revenues and its expenditures for the coming year. That’s tough to do when the state’s deficit is dropped on the city at the last minute, which happened this past year.
After the Legislature failed to pass a sustainable budget during the last session, Gov. Bill Walker used his veto pen to cut about $1.3 billion out of the state’s budget. As a result, the city had to scramble to account for roughly $4.8 million in lost revenue.
Though Watt said the city has done a good job planning ahead for tough times — building a budget reserve of about $16 million and available fund balance of $12 million — last-minute changes handed down from the state still hurt.
Most of the $4.8 million deficit the state passed to the city came out of the available fund balance, which is now closer to $9 million.
If the state were to continuously pass its budget shortfalls on to municipalities, the city might have to consider other revenue-raising measures, such as raising taxes or fees. And this, Watt told the chamber, wouldn’t be in the best interest of businesses.
• Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.
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