The Juneau Assembly is bracing for a tough budget season in the coming months.
That’s because during last fall’s municipal election, Juneau voters approved municipal tax cuts that created a multimillion-dollar recurring hole in the city’s budget.
The city’s next fiscal year begins on July 1 of this year. Starting then — and every fiscal year moving forward — the city will face an estimated $10 to $12 million in revenue loss in its general fund. That’s due to the tax exemption on food and utilities and a cap on the city’s property tax rate that voters passed. It’s now up to the Juneau Assembly to figure out how to mend that gap.
Earlier this week, the city released a survey asking residents to help inform the Assembly as it decides in the coming months how to move forward with the budget. Christine Woll is on the Juneau Assembly and is its finance committee chair. During KTOO’s Juneau Afternoon show on Tuesday, she said the survey is meant to be tough.
“We want people to be a little bit in our shoes in terms of having to make hard decisions about priorities,” she said.
The survey asks residents to pick what city programs and services are most important to fund and to pick what services to reduce funding for. The list includes programs like libraries and museums, trails and parks, and homeless services.
The survey also asks what values they want the Assembly to prioritize, like whether to keep taxes low, continue to support local business year-round, or fund affordable housing projects.
The survey broadly lists programs, services and values. That’s by design, said Phil Huebschen, an engagement specialist with the city’s communications department. He said the survey is meant to simplify the complexities and nuances of the city’s $478 million budget so it is digestible for everyday residents.
“We’re trying to reposition all of this really complex data and information as really simple values information that people can understand,” he said.
The survey also includes some budgets that the Assembly doesn’t necessarily have direct control over, like the airport and hospital, which have their own boards and operate like businesses. But, Huebschen said, the information is meant to guide the Assembly as they make decisions during the budget cycle.
“We’re hoping that they’ll have a compass, so to speak, of what kind of areas in terms of city services, the broad public of Juneau kind of values the most, and where they’re willing to make trade-offs,” he said.
Assembly member Woll explained that budgetary cuts aren’t the only way to mend the deficit. There are other options too, like increasing revenue using bonds, increasing sales taxes or user fees. The survey asks respondents what option they’d be comfortable seeing implemented.
“There are lots of different ways to address revenue reductions. You can figure out other ways to increase revenue,” Woll said.
Along with the survey, the city plans to host three community workshops and two Assembly listening sessions on the budget. The first workshop is at the Filipino Community Hall on Feb. 18, the second at the Valley Library on Feb. 24, and the third at the Douglas Library on March 3. Each workshop starts at 5:30 p.m. The city hasn’t posted details on the listening sessions yet.
The survey is open until mid-February and respondents are eligible for several prizes, like an annual city bus pass or a two-night stay at Hilda Dam Cabin.
The city manager will release the draft city budget in March. The Assembly must finalize its budget before July 1.
