The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly met Monday, Oct. 28, in their first formal meeting since the conclusion of Juneau’s municipal election on Oct. 7. The agenda was light, and no consequential decisions were made. Yet, the meeting foreshadowed budget challenges facing the Assembly in the weeks and months ahead.
Next year’s budget process begins with setting priorities at the Assembly Retreat on Dec. 6 followed by a series of Finance Committee meetings culminating in an approved budget by next May.
This week it was the Assembly’s Reorganization Meeting where new and re-elected Assembly members are seated, and a Deputy Mayor is elected. That bit of ceremonial business was handled swiftly. Newly elected Assembly member, Nano Brooks, was sworn in along with returning members Greg Smith and Ella Adkison. Greg Smith was unanimously re-elected Deputy Mayor, and Assembly members chose their seats.
Public participation on non-agenda items was next. Typically, this moves quickly and frequently no one speaks. This time, however, the room was packed with residents making last minute pleas to postpone the November 1 eviction of tenants and planned re-development of Telephone Hill. The Assembly was presented with a petition requesting a delay on any further action signed by 847 people. Sixteen people testified in support of the petition.
After the testimony, Mayor Beth Weldon reminded everyone that a scheduled public meeting on November 3 would include a discussion of future plans for Telephone Hill. She provided no detail, and no Assembly member moved to change the November 1 deadline currently in place.
This left open the possibility that, while tenant evictions will go forward, the plan to spend up to $9 million to raze existing structures, build a road and prepare the property for development might be reconsidered or modified.
After the consent agenda was passed, the Assembly held a public hearing for 11 proposed ordinances. No member of the public testified, and most were housekeeping items that had no budget impact.
Two of the ordinances, however, are worth mentioning.
- Ordinance 2025-01(b)(E) would transfer $3,000,000 of State Marine Passenger Fee funds from the Waterfront Seawalk project to the Marine Park Improvements project. The current Marine Park project estimate is now $10 million. According to staff, the cost has escalated over original estimates because of the unanticipated cost of building a performance stage over water. This drew some expression of concern from several Assembly members who thought the number was high and wondered if the construction could be phased. After a brief discussion, the motion passed 5-4, with Mayor Weldon and Assembly members Woll, Hall, and Brooks dissenting. This item has no practical effect on the current operating budget and normally would pass without comment. A 5-4 vote for this is unusual and may signal that the Assembly is taking a harder look at spending.
- Ordinance 2025-01(b)(R) would transfer $5,000,000 of General Funds and Hotel-Bed tax funds from the Capital Civic Center (CCC) project to the HESCO Barriers project for flood mitigation. The ordinance passed without objection. Proposed by Mayor Weldon in a previous meeting, she justified it by stating that flood mitigation was a higher priority than the CCC project. Does this indicate a weakening of support for the combined CCC/Cultural Arts Center mega-project or is this just a temporary reduction that will get added back later?
Towards the end of the meeting, the City Clerk provided an official 2025 election report. CBJ mailed approximately 25,000 ballots to registered voters – most of which were discarded and never returned. Voter turnout was 36.6% (2024 turnout was 38.7%).
Along with other budget considerations, our Assembly should reconsider the necessity of Vote-By-Mail, which is expensive, delays results and has not delivered significantly increased voter turnout. The Assembly’s proposal to implement ranked-choice-voting will add even more expense, delay, and uncertainty to our electoral process. The Assembly will take action on that proposal in their Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, November 3.
Crafting a budget this year won’t be easy. Assembly members are beginning to understand that voters expect them to say “no” or cut back on discretionary and unnecessary spending while preserving the core services of government.
Voters have delivered, now it’s time for the Assembly to do the same.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for KeyBank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular Opinion Page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
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