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.

After a couple of months of analyzing and discussing the proposed budget in Assembly Finance Committee meetings, the Juneau Assembly adopted the budget during a Regular Assembly Meeting June 4 by passing two ordinances and a resolution on CBJ’s operating budget, capital improvement projects, and the property tax mill levy rate.

The budget includes the City and Borough of Juneau’s operating budget (both general government and enterprise organizations), capital improvement projects, the property tax mill levy rate, and the previously adopted Juneau School District general operating budget. General government includes most CBJ departments, like Juneau Police Department, Capital City Fire/Rescue, Parks & Recreation, Engineering, Community Development and the Libraries. Enterprise organizations are Bartlett Regional Hospital, Juneau International Airport, Docks & Harbors, and Water & Sewer.

This is the first year of a two-year budget cycle. In the first year of each two-year budget, the Assembly adopts the first year’s budget (FY19) and approves, in concept, the second year’s budget (FY20). The conceptually approved FY20 budget will be brought back before the Assembly next spring for review and adjustments before final adoption. The City Manager’s FY19 proposed budget was introduced April 4 and the Assembly Finance Committee held six meetings to review and make changes. There was a public hearing on the budget during a Special Assembly Meeting on April 25, and an additional opportunity to comment during last night’s Regular Meeting.

The Assembly adopted an overall citywide budget of $335 million, which is down $1 million from FY18. The major components of the budget are:

• $85.7 million for the Juneau School District. This amount is $1.8 million (2.1 percent) less than the district’s FY18 budget – state funding decreased while CBJ’s contribution increased by $1.1 million (4 percent). The Assembly already adopted this component of the budget at its May 14 Regular Meeting.
• $132.9 million for Enterprise Funds (hospital, airport, water utilities, and Docks & Harbors), which includes negotiated wage increases.
• $71.1 million for general government, an increase of $1.8 million (2.6 percent) over the FY18 budget. The total is $1.3 million above projected revenues and requires the use of savings. CBJ has adequate savings; prior to this FY19 draw, the Available Fund Balance (savings) is at $14 million.
• $25.7 million for initial capital improvement projects. Additional appropriations will be made throughout the year as funding gets committed. CBJ annually spends around $60 million on projects.
• $18 million for the bond debt service budget, which is down $3.4 million due to school bonds being fully paid off in FY18.

The property tax mill levy rate is 10.66 – the same as last year – which is broken into two buckets: 9.36 mills for the operating budget and 1.3 mills for debt service. CBJ is projecting to collect $44.5 million in property tax revenues, which is a $0.5 million (0.8 percent) increase to help fund education and general government programs. The debt service mill rate raises $6.5 million to pay debt service, which is an increase of $0.1 million.

With last night’s meeting, the Assembly officially wrapped up this year’s budget season. The final budget book will be posted on this page in late June, so make sure to check that out. And stay tuned, this summer, for more information on the budget and how it relates to you. See you soon!

The Juneau Assembly adopted an ordinance appropriating about $85.8 million to the Juneau School District for fiscal year 2019 during a Regular Assembly Meeting May 14. Funding comes from a combination of sources, including CBJ’s contribution of about $27.8 million. That figure consists of: $26.4 million for general operations, which is the maximum local contribution allowed by state law, and roughly $1.38 million for student activities, pupil transportation, food service and Community Schools.

The $26.4 million in general operations support is an increase of $0.6 million over FY18. The other program and activities funding is an increase of $0.5 million over FY18.

The Assembly is set to finalize the rest of the budget at the June 4 Regular Meeting.

More than five hours and 39 motions later, the Assembly Finance Committee finished its work for this budget season during its May 9 meeting. That means the budget is now in the hands of the Assembly.

Of the 30 items on its pending list, the committee approved 19 of them, totaling $1.6 million above the Manager’s proposed FY19 budget, and an additional $700,000 to the FY20 budget. These amounts will be funded from savings:

• JEDC request for base support: $25,000 in FY19 and $25,000 in FY20
• JEDC request for extra program support: $75,000 in FY19
• Teacher Excellence Fund: a decrease of $100,000 in FY20
• Juneau Commission on Aging: $10,000 in FY19
• Kinder Ready: $140,000 in FY19 and $140,000 in FY20
• DBA funding: $75,000 in FY19 and $75,000 in FY20
• Airport curb drop off education: $10,000 in FY19
• Two additional Police Officers: $200,000 in FY19 and $200,000 in FY20
• Increase police recruitment budget: $35,000 in FY19 and $35,000 in FY20
• Two Civilian Investigators: $180,000 in FY19 and $180,000 in FY20
• Net funding for CSO Officer: $48,000 in FY19 and $48,000 in FY20
• Emergency Cold Weather Shelter: $75,000 in FY19 and $75,000 in FY20
• Mental health study/Substance Abuse Treatment study: $45,000 in FY19
• Work incentives: $9,000 in FY19
• Eaglecrest support request: $25,000 in FY19 and $25,000 in FY20
• Maintaining JSD facility grounds: $15,000 in FY19
• North Douglas Crossing CIP: $250,000 in FY19
• Business case/High level cost estimate for New City Hall CIP: $150,000 in FY19
• Eaglecrest snowmaking equipment CIP: $250,000 in FY19

For brief descriptions of these items, please refer to the Pending Items List in the May 9 Assembly Finance agenda packet.

So far, CBJ is looking at drawing almost $2 million from savings for FY19 and $1.7 million for FY20. And there are still budget items pending related to emergency services that will increase both the FY19 and FY20 budgets and draw on savings.

The committee passed the Juneau School District Budget, which includes more than $1.3 million of outside the CAP funding. The school budget will be up for action at the May 14 Regular Assembly Meeting. The committee moved ordinances on the mill rate and the CBJ operating budget, and a resolution on the Capital Improvement Program as amended out of committee. These items are scheduled to be before the Assembly during a meeting June 4.

There is no Assembly Finance Committee meeting scheduled for May 16. Hurrah!

Take the time to snuggle up and get comfortable with the budget because things are going to get interesting. By the end of the Assembly Finance Committee’s May 3 meeting, the pending list of proposed budget items now totals $6.1 million.

The committee heard a presentation from the Juneau Commission on Aging and put a funding request of $10,000 on the pending list. The funding would allow the advisory body to have staff support through the Juneau Economic Development Council.

The committee also heard a presentation on Best Starts for Juneau Kids, a pre-Kindergarten program for kids ages 0 to 5. Best Starts is requesting $2.18 million for a 2-year pilot program – about $790,000 for FY19 and $1.3 million for FY20. Both items were put on the pending list.

The Kinder Ready program for 4-year olds presented to the Finance Committee and requested $140,000 to add an additional Kinder Ready program within the school district. That got put on the pending list.

Aside from those, the committee added more on the pending list of proposed budget items: funding for two additional police officers ($300,000), increase police recruitment budget ($35,000), two civilian investigators ($180,000), net funding for a Community Service Officer ($90,000), Douglas Gravesite maintenance ($10,000), video camera grant ($50,000), and contract parking enforcement ($75,000). Note that a few of these items were originally on the Mayor’s Pending List, got moved off to be discussed, and are now officially on the pending list.

Aside from all the pending list stuff, the Finance Committee approved the City Manager’s Marine Passenger Fee Recommendations. Coming up on May 9, the Finance Committee is getting a memo on waste management/RecycleWorks and will start digging in on the pending list. Exciting!