During the April 24 Special Meeting, the Assembly made the preliminary decision to fund the Juneau School District at $26.5 million, which is the maximum local contribution allowed by state law. It’s what people refer to as “to the cap” funding. Now that it’s set, it cannot be any lower at final adoption, which is scheduled for the May 13 Regular Assembly Meeting at 7 p.m. in City Hall Chambers. The public will have another opportunity to comment on the school district budget then.

The minimum amount the state requires the City and Borough of Juneau to contribute to the school district is $14.5 million, which is 55 percent of what the Assembly has decided. The Assembly Finance Committee also approved $1.4 million in “outside the cap” funding for the school district. The outside the cap funding goes to food service, student transportation, community schools, high school activities, and middle school activities. The district has also requested $300,000 in outside the cap funding for the Kinder Ready program. The Finance Committee put that on its pending list.

The Finance Committee is taking this week off and will meet again on Wednesday, May 8 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Chambers. The body is likely to start making decisions on its Pending List and Increased Funding Requests. It’s scheduled to take action on the Marine Passenger Fee Recommendations.

This Wednesday is the public’s opportunity to weigh in on the budget during a Special Assembly Meeting at 5:30 p.m. in Assembly Chambers. The Assembly is holding a public hearing on the CBJ operating budget ordinance, the Juneau School District operating budget ordinance, the Capital Improvement Program resolution, and the ordinance establishing the mill rates for property taxes. The Assembly is also scheduled to make a preliminary decision on the Juneau School District budget funding.

Immediately following the Special Assembly Meeting, the Assembly Finance Committee will meet. Last week, April 17, the body approved $885,000 for Travel Juneau, and put its request for an extra $120,000 on the pending list. The committee also approved $325,000, as well as additional $90,000, for the Juneau Economic Development Council.

Here are the committee’s Pending List and Increased Funding Requests. These include funding requests from community nonprofit organizations as well as a few capital projects. The committee plans to decide on these items during its May 8 meeting.

After the Special Assembly Meeting on Wednesday, April 24, the Assembly Finance Committee is set to hear presentations on the Youth Activities Board, Bartlett Regional Hospital, debt service, and proposed mill rate. The committee is also scheduled to take action on funding “outside the cap” for the school district.

The Assembly Finance Committee is not wasting time. At its April 10 meeting, it moved forward the Capital Improvement Program, as well as the sections of the budget pertaining to the Airport and Docks & Harbors. What it means to move items forward is that the committee won’t plan to address these items again during this committee process. The public will have an opportunity to comment on them during a Special Assembly Meeting public hearing on the budget April 24 at 5:30 p.m.

To learn more about the Capital Improvement Program, read this resolution and this memo. You’ll see there are projects on the list that use Marine Passenger Fees. Marine Passenger Fee project recommendations are still going through the public process – the public has until May 2 to comment – and the Assembly Finance Committee is well aware of that. Any changes that come from that process will apply to this budget process.

If you want to dig a little more into the budget, here’s a list of budget increases, which are part of the $6 million increase in proposed expenditure over FY19. The increases include having to fund decreases in program revenues.

The finance committee meets next this Wednesday, April 17 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Chambers. Here’s the agenda. It’s scheduled to hear funding requests from Travel Juneau and Juneau Economic Development Forum, and review the Marine Passenger Fee recommendations. It’ll also hear an update on Water and Wastewater utility rates.

The budget got introduced last Wednesday, April 3, during a Special Assembly Meeting, followed by a Finance Committee. The big takeaway for now — CBJ is in good shape. Though there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the state budget, the proposed budget was built independent of what may come from the capitol; CBJ has not tried to predict the outcome.

The overall proposed expenditure budget for FY20 is $356 million. That’s up $6.3 million, or 1.8 percent, from FY19. The total revenue projection is $350 million, which means a draw from savings of about $6 million.

The overall budget funds general government operations ($77 million), the Juneau School District ($87.5 million), enterprise organizations ($138 million), capital improvement projects ($36.8 million), and bond debt service ($16.7 million). General Government includes several departments, like Juneau Police Department, Capital City Fire/Rescue, Public Works, Community Development, Parks & Recreation, and Juneau Public Libraries. Enterprise organizations, which fund their operations entirely through user fees, are Bartlett Regional Hospital, Juneau International Airport, Docks & Harbors, and Water & Sewer Utilities.

The proposed property tax mill levy rate is 10.56 – that’s dropped a bit, 0.1 mills less than FY19. The rate is broken into two buckets: 9.36 mills for the operating budget and 1.2 mills for debt service. CBJ is projecting to collect $45 million in property tax revenues to help fund education and general government programs. The debt service mill rate would raise $5.9 million to pay debt service.

The biggest unknown right now is, of course, the state funding. The CBJ budget components most directly affected by state funding are education, capital improvement projects, school debt reimbursement and revenue sharing. Another unknown are contract negotiations, which are still underway for all CBJ bargaining units and employees.

The Assembly Finance Committee is scheduled to meet every Wednesday through May 15, except for May 1.

At the next Finance meeting, April 10, staff will go through the budget introduction again in case there are more questions from Assembly members. The Assembly Finance Committee will hear presentations from the Airport and Docks & Harbors. The committee is also scheduled to make decision on the capital improvements projects (CIP) plan.

April 3 kicks off a nine-week process that will determine the City and Borough of Juneau’s budget for fiscal year 2020. City Manager Rorie Watt will introduce the preliminary FY20 budget during a Special Assembly Meeting on April 3 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall Chambers immediately followed by an overview presentation on the proposed budget at an Assembly Finance Committee meeting.

The preliminary budget includes the CBJ operating budget, the Juneau School District general operating budget, capital improvement projects and the property tax mill levy rate. The Juneau Assembly will review the budget over the next seven weeks and adopt a final budget.

The Assembly Finance Committee is scheduled to meet every Wednesday through May 15, except for May 1. The public can comment on the budget at a public hearing during a Special Assembly Meeting on April 24 at 5:30 p.m.

The Assembly is also scheduled to make a preliminary decision on the Juneau School District budget funding during the April 24 Special Meeting and is scheduled to adopt the school district’s general operating budget at a Regular Juneau Assembly Meeting on May 13. The Assembly is scheduled to adopt CBJ’s operating budget, capital improvement projects, and the property tax mill levy rate during a Regular Assembly Meeting on June 3.

Keep checking this site for regular weekly updates on what happened at the Assembly Finance Committee Meeting and what’s coming up. Thanks for following along.